A Night In Nam-Gu

I love that I have friends. I am making friends all over the place now, and I believe there is nothing a girl needs more than good friends.

Tonight I was invited out to dinner with Mi Gyeong (my language exchange partner) and her husband, Mr. Ham. The a's in Korea are soft a's, so in this case, Ham is pronounced Hom. However, 'ham' would be a good descriptive word, considering Mi Gyeong loves to say that her husband is very humerous! haha

Mi Gyeong and her husband have a car, and that is just amazing. *Smiles* They picked me up at my apartment at 7:30 this evening, and we drove to Nam-Gu, which is the south area of the city. (I live in Dong-Gu, the eastern part of the city. There is also Buk-Gu, north, and Seo-Gu, west.)

We had dinner in a lovely traditional-looking Daeji Galbi restaurant. I did not take any pictures because I didn't want to offend my hosts by being the 'tourist', but the restaurant was so lovely that I must try and describe it. It was very log-cabin-esque on the inside, and the ceiling and walls looked a lot like this photo, which isn't mine: 

Guests sat on the floor on bamboo mats, as can be seen above, but the restaurant was much larger than this and there were several water ponds in the restaurant, as well: one on the left and right sides as well as one in the middle. There were large gray fish inhabiting theses ponds, and we also spotted one very large, very well camouflaged toad, and a curious little boy who was trying to shoot it with a plastic dart gun. The ponds were beautifully decorated, with the one nearest our table having a white cherry blossom tree and a small fountain. If I ever have the opportunity to go back, I promise to take pictures.

The food was excellent, too. Daeji Galbi is grilled spare ribs, and they were made to perfection. (Everything is in Korea! Why am I still surprised!) The meal came with many sides, including a western salad with a delicious light orange puree dressing, green radish slivers, finely sliced green and white onion with a spicy sauce dressing, red bean paste, garlic, green peppers, and lettuce leaves to encase your meat with some of the sides to make a little edible wrap. The surprising part was the absence of kimchi, but I didn't notice it was missing until I sat down to write this blog. A meal without kimchi in Korea is like a meal without carbs in America.

After dinner, we did something I haven't done in a long time - we went bowling! I never really thought about it because, honestly, it isn't one of my favorite things to do, but in my six months here I have never seen or heard of anyone going bowling in this country. It does exist, and I have pictures to prove it!

Me & Mi Gyeong

AMF Bowling!

That's our lane on the far left, and that's my hot pink 8lb (yes lb, not kg) ball on the ball holder thing.

I was B - look at those two strikes I got! Ahssah!
Casually ignore the low score...

We had such a great time that we played two rounds! Bowling isn't the same here as it is back home, and I didn't notice any food or drinks at all inside the bowling center. After we played our two rounds, we went to a delicious chicken restaurant and kicked back for a few hours with some fried boneless chicken wings and a few beers.

We had a great time talking and hanging out. Next time we all hang out, they want to take me to a place in Gwangju that has the best grilled pork skin and maybe to another place to try chicken feet. I'm not too sure about the chicken feet, but I hear they are pretty tasty. After all, I've eaten whole steamed (and cleaned) baby octopi and raw fish since I've been here! Why shouldn't chicken feet be on the menu next?