The Roberts in Korea

Hong Kong Adventure

On Wednesday I, along with around 20 other TCIS/GSIS employees, flew out of South Korea and headed for the amazing city of Hong Kong.  We arrived in Hong Kong at 2:30 p.m. and settled into our hotel for the evening.  We are here to attend the International Christian Educators Conference (ICEC).  The conference is scheduled to run Thursday, Friday and Saturday and we will be flying home to South Korea on Sunday.

This afternoon Darren, Steve and I got out and did some sight seeing and some shopping and we went and visited a friend and former TCIS employee, Jeff S. at his school, Hong Kong International School and we did a bit of sight seeing around his area of town.  Here are a few shots from the day.

Here is a double decker bus!

Here is a night shot of Stanley Bay, one of the many bays of Hong Kong.
 
Here are some cuttlefish that a man caught right in front of us at the bay and here are a couple of Hong Kong dogs.
  

 

Yum??

Sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some.  Tonight we took the Miller family out for some Korean food and for the most part...struck out.

We took them to a restaurant that served Cheese Dak-Galbi, which is a meal consisting of chicken, cabbage, sweet potato, duk (pressed rice), onions, and lots of melted cheese.  The entire contents is prepared (fried) right in the center of the table and it is cooked in a very spicy sauce--too spicy. 

Most of the food in Korea is very hot and spicy and sometimes we (the Roberts) forget about this.  Our first year here we struggled with the spicy food, drinking lots of water and dealing with a seemingly unstoppable runny nose during each meal.  The food was sooo spicy!  However, it seems that our palates haven gotten used to the Korean fare and now we don't think about it as much.

Our poor friends, the Millers, are still in the midst of adjusting to spicy Korean food.  Tonight's meal was just too hot and not very appetizing--as you can see from Kallee's countenance.  And Laurie's too.

We sure love having the Miller's here with us in South Korea.  We need to feed them well!

Silly Signs

Here are some silly signs of South Korea.  Sometimes they make some cute mistakes in spelling and usage here in this country.  I think it makes the English Language a bit more interesting.  As you look at these pictures please know that I post them with the "rought" attitude, with all "sincerity" and in hopes that you will have a "hearty" laugh.

Chamchi Chigae

Here is another installment in the Korean food series.  In this picture you can see a steaming hot bowl of Chamchi Chigae (pronounced ch-ahhm-chee  chee--gay) and a bowl of white rice (gongi-bap) along with some side dishes like kimchi, sprouts, pickled white beets and odang.

Chamchi Chigae is tuna fish soup.  Chamchi means "tuna fish" in the Korean language.  Chamchi Chigae is a delicious Korean soup composed of:  kimchi (spicy-fermented cabbage), chopped tuna fish, chopped green onion, chopped garlic, sesame oil, fish oil, chopped ginger and lots of ground red pepper.

The soup has a salty, hot/spicy, tuna fish taste and it is always served in a boiling pot.  It is delicious and makes a great meal on a cold winter day.

Gone Public

This is just an FYI. The Roberts In Korea blog has "gone public."  That means that it can be found and accessed by major web browsers.  Prior to now it has been a private blog that could be accessed by address only.  However, with the addition and use of You Tube videos and slide show programs, the blog address has shown up on the Google and Yahoo web browsers via links and referrals.  Our blog site is also posted as a link on our Facebook accounts.

Our blog has been posted as a site for new and prospective TCIS employees to access for information about life at our school and in South Korea.  Hopefully it will serve others as a point of inspiration and information about family life, life in Korea and the adventure of living for God.

Thanks to all for your continued interest in our blog.

Bbopki

Going downtown in Daejeon is always an adventure because of the endless crowd of people that is always walking around and because of the many and various street vendors that line the sidewalks and streets of the city.  Many of the foods offered along the streets of South Korea are very different and a bit of a challenge to the Western palate.  Some of the street menu items include: duk bokki, meat on a stick, odang on a stick, frosted waffles, roasted chestnuts, dried cuttlefish, boiled silkworm larva, fried squid, hard boiled eggs, baked muffins with bean paste in the middle and Bbopki.

I want to tell you about Bbopki.

Bbopki (pronounced, boep-kee) is a candy item that is sold on the streets of South Korea.  After talking with some of my Korean friends I have learned that Bbopki is an old and traditional Korean candy and part of Korean culture.  Many of my Korean friends hold fond memories of buying and eating Bbopki as a child.

Bbopki is a candy that tastes a lot like a marshmallow that has spent just a little too long dangling over the campfire.  In other words it tastes like burned sugar.  While we were spending some time downtown a few days ago we came upon a man and his wife that were making and selling Bbopki along the street.  They were very open to us watching them make the candy and they allowed me to take some pictures of them during the candy making process.

The making of Bbopki looks simple.  The man took some sugar and heated it over a very hot fire until it turned into a liquid.  Once the sugar was in liquid form he added a pinch of baking soda to the sugar and this caused the liquid to become a tan color and to expand in volume a bit.   The man allowed the mixture to cool slightly and then he plopped it onto a metal counter.  He then flattened the mixture using a round flat metal object and he added a wooden stick to the candy (to hang on to).  Finally, the man used a cookie cutter like object and he pressed a shape into the candy.  Our shape was in the form of a heart.  The candy dried and hardened very quickly and it became very brittle.

The candy is eaten by breaking pieces off and then eating them.  If you can break all around the shape that is pressed into the candy (i.e., the heart) without breaking the shape (this is tough to do), you can turn it into the vendor for a little prize or a free Bbopki.  The price of one Bbopki is 500 won (fifty cents).

We had a great time watching the man and his wife make Bbopki.  When all was said and done our group ended up buying a total of eight Bbopkis from the vendor.  Oh, and the one he made for the picture he gave to me free of charge.

Amazing

Many of my miscellaneous pictures from the week revolve around the season of Fall and harvest time.  After a late evening at school I found myself pausing to enjoy the amazing harvest moon on my walk home.  As it hung over the top of the TCIS dormitory I had to try and capture its glow with my camera.  It followed me all the way home and I enjoyed its light.

Giant red, yellow and brown leaves blanket the streets, gutters and sidewalks of the city.  They crunch under our feet and serve to hide the litter and grime that is so prevalent on the Korean roadways.  It is very common to see elderly men and women up early, sweeping clean the area in front of their local shops and apartments.  The leaves of the city are everyone's responsibility.  I don't miss raking and bagging leaves in Idaho.

 Throughout the city there are signs of harvest and preparation for winter.  It seems like on nearly every corner one can find a truck loaded down with cabbages, beets and other produce.  Every load of cabbage is destined to become pots and pots of kimchi.  The beets will be pickled and transformed into various types of side dishes.  The bags of dried red peppers will be ground into power and rubbed into the cabbage leaves as a part of their transformation into kimchi.  The leaves of various plants will be dried and ground up and will serve as a base for various soups.

In the midst of all this--the city, the leaves, the cabbage and the red pepper--are the amazing people of South Korea--doing life.  All of my observations, that are so unique to me, are the things that make up the ordinary, every day aspects of life  for the Korean people.  The patience and persistence of the little elderly Korean ladies (azumas) as they sit/squat for hours pruning and preparing produce for market and domestic use is nothing short of amazing--more amazing than a glowing harvest moon.

Becca and Basketball

Just days after the volleyball season ended, the tryouts for the girls' high school basketball team were held and Becca was on the court giving it a shot. After two days of intense tryouts Becca was thrilled to find her name on the list posted outside the gym. She is the only freshman girl to make the girls' varsity basketball team.

After two weeks of practice, the TCIS girls' varsity team had their first league game and it was last Saturday at TCIS. The girls played the girls from Seoul International School (SIS). It was a tough game. The girls were nervous and there was lots to think about out on the court, especially for Becca, an in-experienced freshman--a new offense, new defense, new rules (different from middle school) and a gym full of people watching your every move.

Becca didn't start the game but she did end up playing in more than half of the game.  She held the girl that she was guarding to only two points, Becca pulled down at least five rebounds and made one shot.  Wow, she scored in her first varsity basketball game.

As the game progressed the first game jitters wore off and the TCIS girls played a terrific game.  They beat the Seoul International girls' team in a very exciting and competitive game.  So far they are 1-0!  Go Becca!

Way Up There

It is celebration time!  This blog has reached a milestone.  As of this posting, this blog has been accessed (clicked on) over 20,000 times (20,344 times to be exact).  That is a lot of visits for a blog that doesn't have a public address (meaning it won't show up on search engines-you have to know the address or link to access it).  Thanks to all of you for being interested in our blog and for caring about our lives and adventures here in South Korea.  Lord willing, if you will keep on reading, we will keep on posting.

The View From Here

This weekend I had to get out of the house and do some walking.  I think I am experiencing a bit of "cabin fever."  I get out of the house every day (and walk to work) but the city is closing in around me a bit these days.  I have been spoiled by too many years of living in the wide open spaces of the Great Northwest of the United States.

Fall is in full tilt here in South Korea.  The leaves are all ablaze in color and the cool morning air is lasting longer and longer into the day.  The winter clothing is coming out of the closets and is beginning to show up on the people that are walking the streets and sidewalks of the city.  The air conditioner in our house hasn't been on for over a month and we just turned on the heat for the first time last week.

We are glad to have made it through October, as it is one of the busiest months of the school year (second only to May).  Becca finished up a very fun and busy volleyball season and two days later she tried out for the high school girls' basketball team.  It is like "deja vu, all over again" because she is the only freshman to make the girls' varsity basketball team.  She has been involved in practices every night this past week (even Sunday) and her first league game is next Saturday.

Sarah wrapped up her middle school soccer season and has her eyes set on the middle school swimming team that should be starting up any day now.  Both of the girls have been very busy with school activities and lots of homework.  This weekend was our first full weekend to simply hang out around the house and that is exactly what we did.  It was nice to be together.

Last Friday after school I was out throwing a football with some middle school kids and I got a call on my cell phone from George Zickefoose inviting Dina and I to join the Zickefooses and Millers for dinner up town somewhere.  We all have been so busy we haven't had the chance to get together so...we farmed out the kids and went for it.  We went to Cin Cins, an Italian Restaurant, and had a delicious meal and wonderful time together.  While we were up town we saw some beautiful flowers for sale and a tantalizing pile of squid meat at the booth of a local food vendor.  We didn't have any because we were too full, having just eaten.