So Thursday, since I don't have practice anymore, I decided to do something different and fun and try to make one of my favorite Korean foods - 비빔밥 (bibimbap). So my friend C and I went to Megamart and bought lots and lots of vegatables (bibimbap is basically rice, lots of vegetables, and 고추장 (gochujang - chili pepper-ish) sauce. (See above - the gochujang is the red paste in the third picture - it is served like that and then you mix it in with the rice and vegetables after) When bibimbap is served in restaurants, it looks similar to the above - you can't see the rice (it is under the vegetables), and the main characteristic of bibimbap other than vegs and rice and gochujang is the color scheme. You can have many different mixtures of vegetables, but usually there are always green, while, orange, and black vegetables, and you can choose which ones you want to use. I could go on about this night but I am still pressed for time so I am not going to :( But it was a BLAST. :) Another awesome thing about cooking this meal is that not only did I learn some new Korean words and some Korean culture, but I also learned new English words: julienne and blanch. I had heard 'julienned' before but I didn't know what it meant - and incase you didn't either, it means to cut something up into long, thin slices (like the carrots - the zucchini was cut like that too but those are harder to make out); and blanched means to drop something into boiling water for 30 seconds. Isn't that cool? I learned so much from that night. And it was SO delicious. It wasn't the BEST bibimbap I have ever had (I have had some DELICIOUS bibimbap) but it wasn't the worst either. It was very, very good - and it was SOOO much better knowing that my friend and I had made it ourselves :)
On Friday, I finally went out with my American and Canadian friends. I met them at PNU and we went to the batting cages and then to the arcade. The batting cages were actually really really fun. I was nervous at first - especially since I played baseball before and I of course felt like I should be able to perform very well, and there were lots of Koreans there watching...but I got over it and jumped inside and hit a few. Not to mention I was in heels...because I hadn't worn my heels for a very very long time and was in heel withdrawal so I decided to wear them that night (not knowing we were going to the batting cages) - and instead of taking them off in the cage, I hit some balls in my 3" heels...it was great :)
After that we went to get some icecream, and then to the arcade. The arcade in Korea is amazing. So many people are there, and everyone is so into it (much more so than in America). And there are so many kinds of games. Lots of DDR (dance, dance, revolution) although it is a little different than in the states - I can't say exactly because...it is confusing and I didn't actually play it because I didn't know what was going on...but it still looked fun. They also have guitar hero (although it is not as good as the playstation one because there are only 3 buttons, and the arcade is soo loud and many of the songs are unfamiliar so it is tough to hear any beat) and Mario cart and lots of road racing games. They also have a DJ game where you do a turn-table type thing. That is really fun. Even though I was only out for about 2.5 hours, it was a really fun night. :)
The Busan Fireworks Festival was Saturday night, so after swim practice (6:30p), I was planning to meet up with my American/Canadian friends again, at Gwangali Beach (where the fireworks were to be held). But once I got on the subway, it started to become evident that it was going to be almost impossible to find my friends (who had been at Gwangali since 1:30p since they went early and spent the day there). To make things more difficult, cell phones weren't working very well that night (texts and calls weren't going through). So I rode the subway to Gwangali, and when I got out with the thousands of other people, there were police officers directing the flow of traffic out of the subway...and I thought...nooooo wayyy. So I contacted my other friend who said he was thinking about going to watch the works from another location, and I met he and his friend at Haeundae (where I practice every weekend). We met at 8:30p at the subway and walked to Nurimaru (where we run), and from where you can see the Gwangali bridge. Once we got to Nurimaru (where there were lots and lots of people as well), there were only 5 minutes left in the festival; we thought the fireworks were from 8-10p but in actuality they ended at 8:50p. Haha. I was fine with that - I saw 5 minutes, it was good times, good works. They were a little sad (although I wasn't the limiting factor to our visual impairment because I was at the subway station waiting for them for an hour (studying so of course I didn't mind :) ) so I didn't feel bad) though because everyone loves the fireworks in Busan. But anyway. It was still a good time. After that, they wanted to go for some soju and beer. I might have joined them if it didn't take a decent amount of time to get back home on the subway due to the insane amount of people trying to get home at the same time - but also, I had to wake up at 5:30a to meet my team at 7am for a Sunday ride. So I departed from them at 9:50p (which was sad because I just met C's friend that night and he seemed really cool - and doesn't really speak English, other than a few words, so I would have been able to practice my Korean with him) to try and catch as much sleep as possible (which ended up being 5 hours...blaaah. Stupid me.)
Ok I have to go to school so more to come soon.
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