Bulgogi Galbi

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

We went to the hospital yesterday to have our blood tests done and prove that we do not have HIV and that we are not on drugs. It was definitely an experience. We had to walk back and forth between two different departments about 5 times (no one would have noticed had we not been foreigners, but everyone noticed and kind of giggled). Also, there were A LOT of children there getting their yearly medical tests done for school. Anyways, so we finally get everything ready for us to go and get our blood taken out. We go downstairs to the place where they do it and there is a big line. We waited about 20 minutes. Now, getting your blood taken out in Canada or anywhere in the west, unless you are doing a blood drive, you get taken into a private room where no one can see you. Not here!! They made us sit down in the open and EVERYONE watched the two foreigners get there blood taken. It was really awkward. Then we had to pee in a cup. Well, we were not given the regular little cup that has a lid that you can screw onto it, we were given a paper drinking cup with our little label on it. No lid and just a line marked on it where to fill it.

So, once you have finished peeing in your cup, you must walk through the crowd, there are lots of people, with this open paper cup full of pee, and place it in a Styrofoam holder with everyone else's open cups of pee, in the same open place where we got our blood taken. No wonder it smelled like pee down there!! Gross!!!! I was so scared I was going to spill it and there was no possible way I would have been able to conjure up enough pee to fill up another cup. Needless to say, I was very relieved when I put the cup down.

We went out for Galbi last night. It was soooooo good. Galbi is the Korean word for BBQ. You sit at this round table and there is a vent above the table to suck up the smoke. They bring out some coals and turn the table on to heat them up. After that, they bring out the meat, little strips of bulgogi (beef), that you just BBQ on the rack over the coals. The people who worked there could tell we were struggling making it, so they came over and cooked it for us. There are so many side dishes and dips with the BBQ. We wrapped some of it up in lettuce with salad and dips and ate it that way, it was really good. So, now I have two restaurants that I absolutely love!! I really needed to eat some red meat by the end of yesterday though after having blood taken out in the morning. It made for a long and tiring day.

It looks like this weekend, we will for sure be going to the coast. To the Sea of Japan, I mean the East Sea. It is technically the Sea of Japan, but if you call it that around any Korean, they will not like it very much. They are still upset about the Japanese occupying Korea for so long that the Sea of Japan is just called the East Sea. We will be staying over night and hopefully doing some exploring. We will be going with Terri and Arran and Zak. We are very excited to get out of the house for the weekend. Hopefully the weather is nice!!