Street Food

We went to Seoul today! The family I might stay with wasn't there, and the American boy I need to meet was in class, so we just went to shop. We'll go again tomorrow to meet everyone and set things up.

Okay, first of all, Seoul is full of cute boys. The problem is, on their arms are an endless supply of cute girls.

All of them have stockings, high heels, skirts, and pea coats. All of them have black or dark brown hair that is straight on top and wavy in the back. I mean all of them. Where are the alternative styles? Where are the butch girls, the goth girls, the sporty girls? Maybe I'll find a cute Korean boy of my own, but if this is what they're used to I think I'm just as likely to scare them all off.

The subway was fun. Check this out:

An illuminated subway map, right? No! It's a giant touch screen showing what is basically Mapquest-Korea. You can move the map, zoom, and designate your route. It'll tell you what train you need to get on. Sweet!

This was on the train wall; it's a list of things not to do on the subway. Okay, let's see if I can figure this out.
1: "No cell phones."
2: "No double-sided stethoscopes."
3: "No snakes."
4: "No dancing."
5: "No sushi."
6: "No chairlifts."
7: "No newspapers." Or possibly, "No using rolled-up newspapers as blunt weapons."
8: Ummm.... "No crying into your basket of apples and umbrellas?"
9: All I can think of is, "No saluting," which would appear to be discrimination against women in the military.
10: "No, uh, doors?" I don't know. These have just become more cryptic as we go along.

Okay, okay, my Mom told me what it actually said, but rest assured that it wasn't nearly as interesting as my version.

We ended up at an outdoor market. And everywhere we went was more outdoor market! It seems to cover the whole city, down every side street. And the street food is pretty epic. I don't think I saw any two stands selling the same thing. There were roast chestnuts, taiyaki, this weird Korean treat made of pulled honey and nuts, tiny fish, deep-fried rice cakes...

This is me eating a corn dog with potatoes stuck on the outside. Let me repeat that. It is a hot dog wrapped in dough, wrapped in tater tots, on a stick. Genius! It tasted marvelous, but it was pretty difficult to eat.

What is it with Koreans and chewy fish? Seriously. Everywhere is fishcakes, octopus legs, and whole squid. Now, I'll eat strong-tasting fish if the texture is good. Sea bass comes to mind. And I'll eat tough, rubbery things if they taste good. Like Gummi bears. But who the heck first ate a dried octopus leg, that tastes like rotten seawater and feels like you're trying to bite through a shoe, and didn't say, "Oh, crap! This is a terrible idea! Let's go back to making kalbi and mochi."

I know, I know, I'm not a true Korean if I don't like this stuff. And Stellar actually trained me to like kimchi, which was a feat in itself. But Stellar, my dear, I'm afraid even you will never get me to like this stuff. You might get me to eat it (if you, I dunno, put a gun to my head), but I don't think I'll ever like it.

My Mom should not be left unsupervised around scarves. She bought three or four of these. She has, like, fifteen at home. To be fair, they were really cute scarves.

The different stores have different methods to draw you in. At least a few had cute girls in costume (sorry, no pictures).

This one had a guy in a costume of... God, I have no idea what it's supposed to be. But apparently taking a picture with it meant I had to go inside, and pretend to show interest in some foofy skin care products and makeup.

And my personal favorite: 

This is an old dude in drag. With a pink boa. And a bra on his head. You can't see it, but he's standing on a pile of clothes that people are dragging out from under him. I don't even know...

Kalbi again tonight. Uncle Sung-chul is treating us because my Mom's here. As much as I love the food (and I do really, really, love it), I hope it stops after Mom goes home. I'm going to get fat!

Church tomorrow, and then back to Seoul. <3