I take back what I said in my last post about the lack of AYCE KBBQ places! We just visited our school and there's one across the street for only $15! :D I am super happy. :)

KBBQ... finally!

This past week has been incredibly exhausting.  Our training for our school was surprisingly grueling, but in the end it was really helpful.  There were four wonderful people in our group and thankfully, we all passed training!  We wanted to all go out and celebrate, but everyone was shipped out to their new locations in South Korea.  So Daniel and I decided to finally walk around and celebrate.  Daniel was craving pho, so we walked around and found this place, which made me giggle:

So we walked towards it, but then we noticed that the place underneath was a BBQ place.  Back at home, KBBQ places are typically all-you-can-eat and relatively inexpensive... but here, meat is really pricey so there are no AYCE eateries and it is definitely pricey in comparison to in the US.  But, we were celebrating so we decided to check it out!  The interior was beautiful and clean (a bit different than home) and the ventilation was great (you could pull down the vent closer to your food).

We ordered one plate of chadol (beef brisket) and one plate of samgyeopsal (pork belly.. it's like big bacon).  Next time we could probably order three plates of just samgyeopsal because the chadol was mainly fat and seemed to disappear on the grill.  :(  But the pork?  Mmm...

 
Let's just say that I'm a sucker for samgyeopsal + grilled kimchi.  That combination makes my mouth water every time.  It was definitely the first time I left a KBBQ place and still felt like I could eat more, but I've been wanting to eat BBQ since we arrived.  It definitely hit the spot, especially after such a long week.  :)

  

Bulgogi Burger!

It seems that I might be a day behind in writing these blogs... but that's okay, because it will technically be that same day when people from home read them!  x)

Yesterday, Daniel and I walked around Seocho-gu and explored a little bit.  I already knew what I wanted for lunch -- the bulgogi burger from McDonalds!  So we headed that way and ordered.  (Fun fact, they say "set" instead of "meals" over here!)  This is what we got:

It was pretty good!  My burger didn't have as much sauce on it as Daniel's double bulgogi burger (which is why I took a photo of his).  It was basically a normal cheeseburger, but with a sweet glaze over it.  I know it was supposed to be bulgogi, but the sauce made me think of a Hawaiian burger or something...it'd probably taste good with a pineapple.  :P  Okay, that might just be me being silly.  Nevertheless, I'd eat it again!

Another fun fact: McDonalds in Korea delivers!  And they drive in these cute little mopeds that have built in gloves for the drivers.  x)

I was going to post more food, but that will have to wait until tomorrow because I am exhausted from training and exploring Korea via subway (that is it's own story, haha!).  Goodnight!

Journey To Korea!

We made it!  It took ~18-19 hours for us to get to this spot outside of Incheon International Airport last night, but Daniel and I finally made it.  I was planning on writing my first post the night before so that I could write about all of the excitement and anxiety that I was feeling... you know, so that I could laugh at myself a year from now.  x)  Unfortunately, I was too busy packing to blog, so this will just have to do.

Our families said goodbye to us in Orange County, which made the first flight to San Francisco pretty emotional.  I have never been this far away from home so this move really is a huge step out of my comfort zone.  Fortunately, by the time we made it to San Francisco, I was feeling less emotional and less anxious.  The flights were slightly delayed because President Obama was in town ("There is Presidential movement in the Bay Area," is what we kept hearing over the intercom).  Thankfully, we had enough time to eat our last American meal (cheeseburgers, of course!) and got onto my first international plane.  While on the plane, I watched In Time because I missed my mom and she really liked that movie, Glee Concert because I missed my LLS Josephine and she is a Gleek, and Crazy, Stupid, Love because... well, I just like Ryan Gosling.  ;)  I guess the wait wasn't too bad.  Oh, and Daniel and I must have drank a whole 2L of Sprite during that 11.5 hour flight!  x)  Thankfully, the food was delicious and the flight itself was smooth.

I expected the airport in Seoul to be crowded and busy on a Saturday night, but it was very quiet and empty.  I got to use my phrasebook for the first time to ask for change for my 1000 won bill!  (I was very scared to ask... but she understood me, so that was awesome!)  We went on our first bus in Korea and our first taxi to our hotel in Seoul.  So far, everyone here has been nice -- A lady on the bus said that I was pretty (even though I was an absolute mess, lol) and gave us her number in case we had any questions about Korea! We probably won't call her, but it was a nice gesture.

We managed to come into Korea with four hours left for Daniel's birthday.  Although it's already the 19th over here, it is still the 18th back home so we will go out and celebrate today.  So HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!  :D  Your present is an entire year of adventures in Korea.  :P

That was a pretty exhaustive and probably one of those TL;DR type of posts... but I really just wanted to get this blog up and running!  Don't worry, most of my posts will not be this long.  x) Today we will probably walk around the area, so expect a post later on our first adventure.  :)