Just One Expat's Opinion: I ate larva...

I'm sure the title of this blog has you intrigued. And it's true. I ate larva. But I'm going to make you wait for just a bit before getting to that spunky little detail. First, you get to read a little bit of rambling about my adjustment to this crazy and wonderful country.

I have to say, Korean people are amazing and pretty darn gracious. I've heard stories from other expats about people pulling over in their cars to offer their umbrella during just a drizzle of a rainstorm. I've heard about landlords doing special deliveries of expensive fruits and offering invitations into their homes during the holidays. During my first meal in town, with the wonderful woman who showed me around and Mrs. K the Dduckbokki lady, had a conversation in Korean about how concerned they were that I might be lonely here. Just today, I tripped over a bag while entering the bus and almost the entire busload of passengers came to my aid. And it's not, by any means, out of obligation. They actually care. The feeling of being alone in a foreign country is softened by the open arms I've received in almost every direction I turn.

The camaraderie I experience with my fellow GET's also enhances the feeling of “home away from home”. We have found ways to stay in touch, do activities together and generally keep each other from ever giving in to the loneliness that we may be experiencing from time to time. This past week was just an example of what I'm sure to experience in the next year.

After heading back from Seoul, and missing out on some Korean BBQ, I had a hankering for Samgyeopsal that I needed to fulfill. This is not something you can run down to the local Korean BBQ joint and request take-out. This was an experience that must be had with more than one person. So I sent a mass message to my local buddies asking if anyone would want to join me and received an overwhelming response. Out of the fifteen of us who rsvp'd, ten showed up at the meeting spot. One, Huy I'm talking to you, makes valiant efforts but never actually shows up (yes – I called you out, no – I'm not sure if you actually read my blog). Two, a married couple whom I LOVE, were only a tentative so they're off the hook. And another two, some great girls I met, weren't able to make it because one of them had their foot run over by a cow. Read that sentence again if you need to, it's not an auto-correct. I still don't know the details, but I know they're in a more rural area so it must be true. If I find out more, I'll let you know. Anyway, the dinner was fantastic, and the night out after wards was epic, including a norebang where I managed to sing along to almost every song and some not-appropriate-for-blogs stories (none of which involve me, relax Madre).

One of the coolest and best couples
I've met in a long time.

Orlando girls :)

Some of the peeps.

All the peeps (and all the food!)

Tuna Soup - pretty good!

This place was called "Madame Freedom" after
a Korean movie (hence the movie posters)

KBBQ Selfie!

The next day was supposed to involve Korean classes but admittedly I dropped the ball on that one, staying out way too late to drag myself out of bed in the morning. Instead, I slept in and ate some of the bacon I had acquired from my Costco trip. I also used that bacon to make some awesome homemade spaghetti sauce, my first western meal at home. I had no other meat at the time and was craving the protein, it was good, don't judge.

I did eventually venture off to the store to get some additional meat options. That was a bit of a harrowing tale in itself. One that probably deserves it's own blog post entitled “The Chicken Story” or “The Tale of the Not-So-Boneless Chicken”. Quite honestly, I had been avoiding purchasing any meat for two reasons. First, meat here is expensive, unless you buy pork, and one can't live on pork alone (although apparently I've been making an unintentional valiant effort at just that). But with only so much won to live on until pay day (which happens over a month and a half after arrive – and hasn't happened yet...eek) I was opting, at first, for only vegetarian meals at home. The second reason is that meat isn't prepackaged for your enjoyment in my area like it is in the West. Some of the mega stores have it available for you in packages but the local market near me only had a tiny butcher area in the back. You have to literally walk past two cases full of what appears to be cow and pig legs, some snouts, and a few other things I try not to look at, to get to the dimly lit counter. Almost everything in plain sight is pork, the beef has outrageous prices on it (even without being on a budget) and I had yet to see chicken anywhere.

On my protein run I attempted to find something edible in the frozen seafood section (next to the cow legs) but was only able to stomach the frozen package of shrimp. I have grown to really love squid while I've been here, but seeing that I only had full squid to chose from, I decided I wasn't quite ready to figure out how to chop one up myself so I skipped it this time. Maybe a future blog will be entitled “The day I chopped up a squid”. Probably not. So I mustered up my strength and asked the butcher, in my best Konglish, if they had any chicken. “Neh” she yelled at me (which means yes) and before I knew it she slung an entire chicken out of the cooler and onto the counter and started chopping. She stopped for a moment, mimed “chopping” to me and I yelled “Neh” back at her. I had no other choice, the deed was half done. I turned my head away, because I'm a chicken (no pun intended) and I didn't want to watch the process. Only about a minute and thirty seconds later she handed me a bag of chicken pieces. I didn't look at it, just threw it in my basket and made my purchase.

When I got home I decided to divide the chicken bits into two, one to be refrigerated that week and another to be frozen for next week. It wasn't until then that I remembered, “OH yeah, I'm in Korean, not America.” My chicken wasn't divided into clean cuts of breasts, legs, thighs, etc. She had done it so quick for me because it was literally hacked into small pieces. Bones still intact as well as what I can only assume is part of the chicken's liver that wasn't cut off completely. I took a deep breath, divided the chicken into my two bags and threw it in the fridge/freezer to deal with at another time. I'm not trying to be an infant about this, I really have gotten over a lot of fear of bones and eyeballs and even feet. But I wasn't sure how I would cook these pieces of chicken while it still had a rib cage poking out of what I can only assume is part of the breast. I've been suffering from a bit of a cold so I decided to use that as an excuse to make chicken soup. I'll throw all the chicken into some boiling water and let it cook to the point where the meat just falls off the bones...that's my plan, not sure if it's a good one but I don't think I can handle anything else really.

And that, ladies and gentleman, is the chicken story. Back to my weekend...

After a relaxing morning I met up with my new pals at the Chungdae Home Plus and hopped on a bus for Sangdongsanseoung Fortress which was less than an hour from us and only 1,000 won ($1) to get to. It was a hell of a hike up, but well worth it. We saw some amazing views of our city and really felt the burn of some much-needed exercise. After my gruesome chicken tale, you've deserved some pretty pictures of the hike. But read below the pictures and I'll finally get to the larva...hopefully your stomachs can handle more...

This dog was decorated - note the yellow tail
and pink ears (it also had blush on but you
can't tell)

Ready for our hike!

Long hike up!

The camera was pointed straight ahead, just
to give you an idea of the angle we were working with.

My pretty city - Cheongju

Those fuzzy (sharp) things are walnuts

After the hike we were all pretty hungry. The first thing we stumbled on was a little food vendor selling a variety of treats, one of which had a very earthy smell to it, kind of like the smell of boiled peanuts. Not bad, just...earthy. I walked up to the boiling pot and it looked like what could either be some kind of walnut-like thing or a bug. I went ahead and assumed bug based on prior knowledge. My friends who have been in SoKo for a year already, Lizzie and Owen, confirmed it for me. It was silk worm larva. And both of them were extremely excited for me to try some. And not in a “lets punk this girl” kind of way, but in a “you're in Korea, you HAVE to try it, it's not that bad” kind of way. Honestly, it really didn't take much convincing for me. I did say that I would try everything once. And how cool is it to say that not only did I go to Korea, but I ate larva! So thank you Lizzie and Owen for the encouragement.

What's that we smell?

What's in that boiling pot?

No seriously, what is that?

Oh look, gingko berries, yum!

Ooooh, it's larva.

Yum...I think?

Gingko berries to cleanse the palate!

I wasn't the only one to try it, a few of us munched down on the little critter. I have to say, if I hadn't known what I was eating I would've eaten half of the container. It not only smelled like boiled peanuts, but it tasted like it too. And I love me some boiled peanuts. Still, half way through chewing it up I remembered what it was and had a hard time swallowing. I still haven't quite gotten a grasp on getting over the thought of what I'm eating. But hey, I tried it. And I'm really happy I did.

I have a few more yummy food pics to distract you from what you've read today and a beautiful picture of a sunset from this evening that I had to share. Overall, I'm loving every moment of my life here. Except for this darn cold. Hopefully by my next blog, this magic Korean tea will have cured me of the sniffles. If not you'll be getting a blog about Korean hospitals. (Don't freak out parents, Koreans go to the hospital for a sore throat, I didn't mean for that to sound dramatic).

My first homemade Korean meal -
Jap Chae (above), My first homemade western
meal - spaghetti (center), and my first
taste of Koreanized Chinese food -
fried rice (left)