So, it's been a crazy few weeks for me and this will cover the first part of those few weeks. I wanted to start out with a funny story that I think some may like:
There's really only one thing in this world that I've ever been allergic to. No it's not medicine, no real food, not figurative either, it's this one family of wild grasses that makes me cough and sneeze and itch for a couple of weeks each one. One that I've never actually paid any attention to what it looks like or how to identify it, I just knew that I was allergic to it. Well, this is where the fun begins. On campus there are a couple of cafeterias that I eat at every now and again. Sometimes the food is pretty good, other times it's really bad, but that's not really important. What is important is that one day, they have some new dishes up and I was feeling adventurous, per usual, and decided to sample one of these new dishes.
This one dish was some thin strips of pork and what looked like some sort of grass shavings. Now, I'm not sure if it was actually grass, but I thought it looked pretty interesting and obviously something that I must try to determine if it was actually what I thought it was. So, I get my food and I go to have a seat, I then try a few things and get to this grass looking material. Believe me, I really wish I had a picture so that I could show you. Anyway, I take a large bit and it tasted very familiar, almost like the smell of fresh cut grass on a summer day hitting the back of your tongue. I thought, "that can't be right, it has to be all the paprika on top that gave it that strange taste." I then proceed to go back for bight number two, which was rather large and it tasted relatively the same. I thought, "well I'm never getting that again," and went on with my day.
Well, unbeknownst to me that meal was not done with me. I was sitting in the library and started to itch under my watch. I thought that it was weird and I must've just been wearing the watch too long and it was too hot outside. Wrong. Soon, my arms began to itch as a massive case of hives swept across my body, covering my entire torso at one point. I'm a tough s.o.b. so the itching was only pretty unbearable for a while. That's not the end of it. I had this meal at dinner and had a job interview later in the evening. So while I was interviewing the hives were exploding and dissipating in waves, which made for an incredibly interesting time over the phone. Thanks heavens I wasn't on Skype.
Still cannot confirm 100% it was grass, but if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck.
After that episode, I've had more time to check out the city and study for midterms, then take midterms, and let me tell you something that format is new to me. I've never had two test account for 100% of my grade before in my life and that's all this was. Usually there are two or three exams, maybe even some homework. Most of my classes the only grades come from the midterm and the final. Oh boy, what fun, am I right or am I right?
So I studied for a pretty extended period of time, might still have done terribly. I'm not sure, I haven't gotten my scores back so I get to remain in the hot-seat. Check that, I went and checked after I wrote. There's one class that looks like it's going to be pretty damn difficult down the stretch. When I say that, it's only pass or fail so go ahead and connect those dots. Yeah.
Koreans are studious. The biggest take away is that if I'm in a position to hire somebody someday, and there are some Korean educated individuals with high GPAs then I am going to hire those people. No doubt in my mind. They are crazy focused. I wish I could get myself to focus that much sometimes without having to gear myself up. Maybe something I need to work on? Uh yeah, probably. I think I may have just found my New Year's resolution (that way I don't have to start it until January- see what I did there).
In between the studying and now crying over a low score, I had the chance to hit up some cool places in Seoul. One of which is Bukchon Hanok Village, which is an old, historically built and maintained Korean village right near the downtown area of the city. It's a short walk in between the two large palace areas and has some spectacular views of all these old houses and the city. The neighborhood, that it's across from is Insadong, which has a lot of tourist shopping and some decent street food.
That's another thing, I eat a lot of street food. If it's out there I'm going to try it. I've had everything from fried minicrab to squid, then maybe some weird gelatinous cornbread. It's pretty incredible to see the variety and try everything there is to try. I mean, there's stuff that I didn't even imagine seeing out there and it's all pretty good.
Usually, around my neighborhood, Anam, there some good restaurants and it's a university area so it's not a bad time either. There are a few bars that I think are trying to cater to the foreign students, which is kind of nice. $2.80 for a beer is a pretty good deal in my opinion. Oh, and turns out soju has like 400 calories a bottle so I will be toning down the consumption of that beverage for the time being. Especially since it has caused me to forget to set up my fantasy line up multiple times.
I've also figured out the entire process to leave the country, so watch out Asia, I'm coming for you. If you have any sweet suggestions of where to go then please hit me up.