Do I look pale?

I thought I was a bit adventurous when it came to food. I mean, I'd like to think I'll try everything once as long as it's proven that it's edible, and other people are eating it. So far this week I've ventured into many new territories, most of them sea-creatures. I've had Sea Urchin, Sea Cucumber, Sting Ray, and Octopus (not new to me, but challenging in it's own right). So today, on a 2 hour road trip down the coast of Korea, we ventured to a small sea-side town that served traditional style Korean seafood. That translates essentially to fresh and, in most cases, raw. And not necessarily the type of raw you might have experienced. Raw in most cases to me means not cooked. Raw in this incident could have been an acronym for Recently Alive and Wriggling. Still raw, but a different level of raw.

In any event, after a bowl of squirming and kicking prawns was delivered to our table, along with a few other rather shocking side dishes, we began to nibble on some raw scallops, and other sea cuisine (I kept mainly to the mussels/clams). Then the prawns were cooked on our table, and we'd slowly pick them apart and eat them (de-pooping was a task in itself). Well as I was being offered some shrimp heads, which I actually managed to eat one of, but only one just to say I did, I couldn't keep my eyes off the appetizer plate that had arrived nearly a half hour earlier. So tact aside, I decided to finally give in and shoot a quick video of our appetizers. Now keep in mind these guys had been sitting here for 30 minutes at the least, and had died down quite a bit. But their "activity" had not subsided. What I'm talking about is what you see in the picture above (and more importantly in the video when you click on the picture above). These sliced tube-like pieces were continuously wriggling and flexing with the dexterity of a very determined, albeit severed, tongue. I was fascinated as much as I was unable to look at them in order to maintain my appetite. So join in my fascination and watch the video. You'll thank me.

By the way, I spent the whole time glancing at these things, trying to convince myself that I should eat one just to say I did. But in all honesty, what the hell would I brag about that I had eaten? A wriggling sausage skin from the sea? I think the video is bragging rights enough - that I sat with these guys dancing next to me and never involuntarily returned my lunch to the table.

San Diego is not all peaches and cream

I went to a Buddhist Temple today to take some pictures. There were lots of intricate decorations and many shoes strewn about. Some of the buildings on the grounds have the symbol you see in the pictures on the right hung over the doorway. It's called a Swastika - some of you might have heard of it. It stands for "good fortune" and "well being" - some of you might not have heard of that. I myself had heard of that only once, so when I saw these posted about the temple, I was reminded of what I had heard, and looked into it. And I'd say for any of you who don't quite understand why I am saying the symbol that represents some of the worst atrocities of mankind stands for such positive things, then I suggest you look into it as well. Start Here.

A quick summary in my words. The symbol has been in use for nearly 10,000 years, and for the last 2,500 had risen in importance as the premier symbol of good luck for Buddhism and Hinduism. Then less than 100 years ago, it was adopted by a certain group of rather nasty folks, who managed to turn it's incredibly long history of positive symbolism into an image of pure hatred and evil. And as far as my previous knowledge and education was concerned, had eradicated the western worlds ability to conceive of it as anything but, let alone know it meant anything different.

So do yourself a favor and read up on it a little. A perfect example of the extensive positive history of this symbol can be seen by wikipedia's write up on it, and that the mention of its use in a negative fashion is a small, rather insignificant paragraph at the end of a substantially long article. Worth a mention is the small blurb in the section of "Taboo in Western Countries" in which it states despite the symbols virtual disappearance in use in the western world, there is a building located in San Diego of all places, that when looked at in Google Earth (32 40'34.09" N, 117 09'27.96 W) or Google Maps it can be seen as an obvious swastika. Way to go SD - now that's a noble claim to fame.

Sea Cucumber tastes like Chicken...

...made from the soles of shoes.

First things first. Flying for 15 hours straight did not seem as bad as I had expected. I guess you can dread it, or you can make an event out of it. Haej and I chose the event route. Cocktails and in flight Yatzee to start, then some food Korean Air style (BiBimBap to those who are familiar), some less that amusing entertainment (Nacho Libre), some games (Lego Star Wars on PSP), some profound entertainment (An Inconvenient Truth), some dinner, and then my uncle's magic pill to put me down for the count. Next thing you know you are landing in Seoul.

Haejin's father's driver was waiting at the airport to take us straight to her parents house, which is a quick 2 hours away. A little more sleep got me through that one. Then arrival at the rent's place. A bit intimidating to put it mildly, especially since I am apparently the first person that Haejin has brought home. But I had practiced up on my Korean phrases, and I was ready to embarrass myself.

As you could expect everyone was more than welcoming and very warm. The first hour was mostly references to how tall I was (see picture above), mostly from her 7 year old nephew who would ask me to touch the ceiling and proceed to try himself. He finally found when he stood on the back of the couch he could match my height.

After the groom arrived with his 2 friends, we sat down to eat. There were many courses with lots of dishes I was fairly familiar with, and a few that I wasn't, but I made a point of at least trying everything, and actually finished and enjoyed the majority of it. During dinner, there was also lots of drinking. Lots of drinking. Her dad loves his nice whiskey, which is one of the gifts I brought for him. And when you are approached by someone who has a bottle in hand, you hold out your shot glass, let them pour, and then shoot it. Then you swap and pour them their shot. Then you move on to someone else and offer them a shot, and the same exchange ensues. You can see where this goes.

After the groom had indulged in a little too much whiskey, it was time to call it a night. Everybody said their goodbyes, and I headed into the city to check into my hotel. Yes, I'm staying in a hotel about 25-75 minutes from where Haej is staying, depending on traffic. That's the rules. I don't fight them. But its a very nice hotel and in an area where I can wander around and see lots of new stuff. According to Haejin it's not quite traditional Seoul, but its a nice buffer zone for me to get acquainted.

Amusing Title For First Post

I'm in Korea. I'm not into the whole blog thing. I don't quite get it. A few people suggested I should create a blog. I looked into it. Now I get it.

Kinda.