Who eats cocoons?

 

As you can see from the last post, our weekends hadn’t been living up to previous ones. We got lazy – we had no where to go. The weather was cold, which makes us want to stay indoors. Our lives are so tough you know. This weekend, much of the same thing: we were tired, the weather was cold. One thing was different though, we had someplace to go. Of course, it was no big deal. Just a normal activity when the weather gets too cold. But I’ll get to that later. 

Friday night was our friend DongHoon’s birthday. Technically his birthday was Saturday, but we celebrated early on account of him heading off to Seoul Saturday morning. So Friday night, Sam planned dinner, and when Sam plans dinner, we know what that mean. Shabu-Shabu. I can’t remember if she has told you about this or not. If she has, then please remember. If she hasn’t, I don’t want to go into details, she needs to. Either she’ll add an insert here, or just explain it in another post. Plus, there is always google.

We didn’t say out too late. Some people were tired; some people had to wake up early. Me, I was one of those people who had to wake up early. Saturday morning, I met up with 2 of my teachers and 30-40 students to go on a fieldtrip to see Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongiu. While there, I was given a mini-history lesson as well as many different photo opportunities.

Ms. Moon (one of my co-teachers who went to the temple with me) and I usually spend a lot of time talking. Earlier in the week, we had been talking about food. She mentioned one of the things she used to eat as a child was cocoons. Yes, those little things full of half caterpillars and half butterflies. Although I don’t find the idea appetizing, I listened and was curious. So, when we passed a food stand while leaving the temple, and she mentioned they had these little cocoon snacks, I decided to be brave and try them. Little did I know that trying them involved buying a whole Dixie cup full of boiled cocoons. They weren’t too bad really. If I pretended it was something else, I didn’t mind so much – the taste was a bit seafoodish. But then I would remember what it was and not want to eat them. The process involved stabbing them with a toothpick individually, so the going was very slow. I was able to pass it around the bus though, letting everyone try some. Lucky the kids were able to finish it for me. They, of course, didn’t need to stab the cocoons individually. They just drank ‘em right up!

It's actually right there on that coin!

My knowledgeable tour guide

My beautiful co-teacher

A lucky pig and a photogenic boy

My snack - cocoons!

After getting back, I relaxed around my apartment, watching a little too much TrueBood and adding a bit too many pictures to facebook (if you haven’t seen them yet, they are there). Sam and I met up later to eat dinner with some friends, then headed home early because of our big adventure Sunday.

Now, I didn’t mention this before, because, well, it’s no big deal. Since the weather is cold now, it seems the only thing left to do is go snowboarding. So that’s what we did. Sunday – we snowboarded! Waking up at 4am wasn’t our favorite thing to do, but we both pulled through like champs and were ready to go!  We went outside to catch a taxi. Luckily there was one right at the corner and we were able to convince the driver that driving us to the bus stop would be a lot more exciting than the claw game he was playing  (and winning – he already had 3 prizes and was going for number 4). The bus ride was long, but I slept. We got to the resort, got our gear, and headed out to the slopes!

Yeah, we are pros!

Really, it was my first time.

As for slopes, there were only two open. Just because it’s cold in Korea doesn’t mean that it’s snowing too! Both were covered in artificial snow, so they weren’t too long. One was a less-steep bunny slope, and one was a steeper intermediate slope. Sam decided this was the weekend to try snowboarding. Everyone who has ever snowboarded knows how painful that is. The first day is the worst day of all! But she pulled through like a champ and still wants to try again! Dedication! I, of course, am not going to tell her no. I had way too much fun, so we’ve decided to go again next weekend. And the weekend after that. And then whatever other free weekends we have. Maybe we are a bit addicted, I can’t really tell.

A "Korean Barricade"

When we got back, we were so exhausted and tired and cold. But does that mean go home early and sleep? No way! This is Courtney and Sam you’re talking about! We never let anything get in the way of fun! We had promised some people from the rock gym to go to the movies Sunday night, so go the movies we would! Of course, the movie we were promised was Harry Potter and Harry Potter doesn’t come out until next Friday, but understanding is hard when you don’t speak each others languages so we decided to show up and see what happened. What had HAPPENED was everyone realized Harry Potter didn’t come out for another 2 weeks, so as a backup plan we went to the Noraebang (a karaoke room for you and your closest friends). We were forced to sing a song because “Sing one song, go home. No sing, sleep here” They even showed us the “Korean Barricade”. Sam and I realize that our singing skills are not amazing. We also realized we wanted to go home. She sang “What’s my age again” and I sang “Sweet Caroline”. Of course, when you get a taste of singing, you don’t want to stop. Well, I did. Sam wanted to go again. But things happened and we just went home instead.

Just a bit of singing, dancing, and clapping!

In conclusion, we had an awesome weekend. The Monday after was a little hard for some of us, but everyone survived. Now we just get to look forward to a repeat weekend this weekend! Yes!!!!!