June 27 (Sun) - "Meat party" at Grandma's xD

Well, despite the unfortunate turn of events for South Korea last night (losing to Uruguay), we managed to move on and enjoy a nice "meat party" (as Aimee called it) today at her grandma's house xD It was an interesting experience. You'll see from the pictures.

My first picture here doesn't imply my first meal. I actually got up about 2 hours before this and ate some cereal xD... but I still got lunch. More spicy tofu (again - I like this a lot), kimchi anddd eggs... with rice, of course :) A bit later, we were all home and went to grandma's via car.

On the way, I got to try an amazing brand of soy milk... Vegimil B xD... had lots of added vitamins and tasted a little creamier than soy milk back home. Maybe less sweet? Still - it's very nice to have it in a carton xD Aimee kept thinking I wouldn't like it - but I did. :)

Along with some meat, we also picked up a watermelon! It's got it's own little carrier.. xD Plus, as you can see - watermelons are round here.

It wasn't too far to drive, but it was definitely more rural.

Here's the outside of grandma's house. It was actually Aimee's grandpa's house. Although it's quite old and shabby, grandma's only been here 30 years. There's still the milk bag on the door! xD

This is a shot of all the kimchi vases from the porch of the house (sliding doors). I was about to take off my shoes. It's pretty impressive xD

This (according to Aimee) is what every Korean household has (except us): the kimchi fridge xD.. specially for keeping the kimchi (pickled stuff) fresh and not sour? :x They keep some other veggies there too.. but mainly just huge things of kimchi xD. Can be eaten with every meal after all!

This is where grandma burns her trash. :x I guess it's a way to get rid of it... sort of.

Right inside the entrance to the courtyard before the house is where grandma dries her home grown garlic. :) Very fragrant. xD

While they started dinner, Aimee and I walked around the neighborhood a bit. This is where she used to play a lot as a kid. It also has the community center on the right (the wooden building) and then the stone with the neighborhood name in front of the tree.

This is a shot of the side of one of grandma's gardens (her house has the blue and red roof). The shed used to house 2 black goats when Aimee was little, but no longer. The plants here are probably jalapeno.

Here's a shot of where we ate... and some of the food while the meat is cooking. xD

This was dinner. It was pretty tight on that little table, but I'll tell you what I had... and what's missing from the shot. I'll just say now - I can't believeee how much meat I ate. Right in the front is my bowl of rice with peas. To the left in the orange bowl was apparently cucumber soup (cold, probably spicy). I never had a spoon to try it, so I can't say for sure anything about the taste. Everything else was fair game -- Behind the orange bowl (the big white one) is cabbage kimchi, the silver bowl behind that was garlic kimchi, to the left of that in the nice white bowl is duck (already cooked by grandma) -- very flavorful. Only a bit chewy, but mostly just soft. We dipped it in honey mustard. There's homegrown cabbage next to it (used to wrap rice, meat, garlic, and the brown sauce). I've had the brown sauce with the chopsticks sticking out of it before... but I forgot what it was called. It's kind of spicy as well.. but more like Indian spice - not burn your mouth spice. The big green things - jalapenos (mild :), refreshing) and raw garlic xD for the wraps. The other meat under the hand were beef ribs. At the time, pork (neck) was also cooking. :x All of it wasn't too bad... but still - I liked the duck the most. For drinks, we also had soju and a Sprite knock off... xD (not mixed though!)

This was after dinner :) Typical watermelon, orange, and then the white ones are Korean melon (yellow outside). Quite sweet, juicy, and definitely going to be missed back in the States~ We also had some Korean cherries (from bush right outside), but I don't have a picture here. We brought most of the goodz home though - so I should get a shot tomorrow.

As I was trying to consume a Korean melon for the first time, grandma kind of shoved a Korean pancake thing in my face xD... At this point, I was so full.. but I tried it! It's made of acorn... O-o? Nothing particularly exciting as far as taste goes... texture was kind of .. meaty? Oh welll.

After all the food - I definitely have some crazy breath! xD

These were the cool, traditional, good luck poles outside of the neighborhood.. xD Grabbed a shot.

On the way home, we saw this big outlet place going out of business... so we peeked in to look for deals. Pretty good shoe deals - and probably good prices for suits and stuff, but I personally got a cheap casual outfit.. for around the house (here and on Jeju Island). No pics though.

Also on the way home, we got gas... and gas here is still given by attendants. xD So, the guy in the window is the attendant :x Couldn't say how the prices compare.. since it's by liters and all.. plus, it's a foreign currency, but hey! Pretty cool :x

I have no idea what all we're doing tomorrow... other than hitting the bank. It'll be my last money exchange for the trip :) I'm glad to say I will have enough...

Other than that - who knows?

:]