Lessons in dak galbi

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home." - James Michener

I started my day off today doing just that. I woke up (ungodly early again), ate a granola bar I packed from home, blogged forever, chatted with friends and family on Skype until about noon, showered with all of my American toiletries, got dressed in my clothes from home and proceeded outside to find some food. Where did I end up? Paris Baguette... I bought a pizza.

Then, I returned to my room, read my American book by an American author and played around on Facebook - perturbed that none of my American friends were awake to communicate with me. It was ONLY 3 AM their time!

Then a fellow teacher, Liz, swung by to pick me up and my whole day changed. We met 4 other teachers (one of whom was celebrating her last weekend because I am taking over her classes on Monday), and walked to a local restaraunt for dak galbi. We took off our shoes, and sat on pillows around the table. I had no idea what dak galbi was but was so excited to find out.

The first thing I noticed were the large frying pans in the middle of the tables. We order 5 dak galbis for the 6 of us, at the reccomendation of our waitress. Next thing I knew, there were platters of a shredded cabbage, corn and dijon mixture, bowls of kimchi (a South Korean fermented cabbage specialty), a boiled egg situation that I don't think I can actually explain, and baskets of lettuce leaves in front of us. Then, our waitress heated the pans on the table, and brought out 2 platters (one for each pan) of raw chicken, cabbage, red potatoes, onions, rice cakes, and a chili pepper sauce and dumped them each into the skillets.

They were left to cook while we munched on our cabbage/corn/dijon mixture, egg deal and kimchi, and sipped our rice/beer/liquor situation that I'll have to get back to you on the name of. When our dak galbi was ready, we served ourselves. We created lettuce wraps with the lettuce leafs and the dak galbi and chowed! 5 orders was the perfect amount and we are all stuffed! This is all that remained:

Then, because it is Tiffany's last weeked in Korea, we ordered a bottle of Soju (a vodka-like liquor) and took shots with the owner of the restaraunt who she lovingly referred to as her boyfriend. Here's a picture of her making a tornado with the bottle.

After that, plates of grapes were served as dessert. They were wine grapes. The skin is too thick to be eaten and each grape had a seed in it. You must suck the fruit out of the skin and then spit the seed into your bowl. They were delicious. They tasted like the grape flavor used in candy.

When the bill came, we couldn't read it, so we all threw in 10,000 wons, the equivalent of just under $10 and figured we'd go from there. No one tips in Korea, and tax is included in the price. We got 9,000 won change back. That meal for 6 of us was less than $9 a person! For everything! I love this place!

I learned a few rules about drinking in Korea tonight, as well. One, when purchasing an alcoholic beverage it must always be purchased with food. Don't mess with tradition, especially when its not your own. Two, never fill your own glass at a table. And three, if someone older than you is filling your glass, use two hands and lift the glass off the table to assist them in pouring your drink.

Needless to say, my seemingly ignorant, culture-free day turned into quite the lesson in Korean lifestyle! I guess I'm not one that "might better stay at home." WHEW!