Reconnecting with Friends and Family

This past week I was fortunate to have a friend from Duke visit me. My friend Michelle is teaching English in Shanghai for a college prep company and her company paid to fly her and the other employees to Seoul for a week. Unfortunately I couldn’t make it to Seoul on a school night but Michelle and I were able to meet in Chuncheon after I finished school on Wednesday. I can’t even put into words how wonderful it was to see a friend from home here in Korea. I don’t often feel lonely while in Korea but I do often times feel disconnected from my life prior to coming here. Since all of my friends and acquaintances in Korea were unknown to me prior to this year we often don’t really discuss our prior lives in detail. Therefore, it was really nice to spend the afternoon reminiscing with Michelle.

I originally wanted to take Michelle to some of Chuncheon’s famous sights but unfortunately, the weather caused me to change my plans. Chuncheon is mainly famous for it’s scenic beauty which wasn’t too visible or enjoyable with all the rain yesterday. Therefore, the two of us just went to the downtown shopping area and grabbed coffee and patbingsu. Afterwards, we got our nails done and then did a lot shopping. When we were shopping we met up with my friend Rachel and her sister, Rebecca, who is visiting from America before heading to Shanghai. The four of us shopped a little more before heading to dinner.

Our fancy patbingsu (shaved ice and red bean paste dessert)

We went to dinner on Dalkgalbi Street in MyeongDong. The street is really famous because it’s home to the original Dalkgalbi restaurant. Most Korean cities are famous for certain foods and Chuncheon’s claim to fame is dalkgalbi. You can go to nearly any other city in Korea and find a restaurant called ‘Chuncheon Dalkgalbi’. The dish is composed of chicken, cabbage, sweet potatoes, rice cake and sesame leaves cooked in a cast iron pan at your table. After you are almost done with the chicken and vegetables you can also order rice or noodles, which are then mixed into the dish. It’s really delicious and is pretty spicy. Therefore, we ordered some makgeolli, which is a traditional Korean rice wine, to cut the spice. The whole evening was a lot of fun and was a nice reminder of home to help carry me through my remaining month and a half in Korea.

Michelle and I on Dakgalbi Street

All four of us