Insadong (Seoul's Cultural District) with Friends

I met up with my friend Mi-jin and her friend Yi-soon in Seoul this afternoon. They live in the far northern part of South Korea, almost on the border between North and South Korea. We met in Insadong, the cultural district of Seoul, and had a very enjoyable afternoon. Mi-jin and Yi-soon can speak basic conversational English, but it's not easy for them, and I really appreciate the effort they put forward to talk to me.

First we went to a tradtional Korean tea house for none other than traditional Korean tea. I had jujube tea, Mi-jin had Chinese quince tea, and Yi-soon had cinnamon and persimmon tea. We each tried all of them. I liked the cinnamon and persimmon tea the best. It was ice cold and had a dried persimmon in the bottom of it. Yum. Mine was kind of thick and gritty. It wasn't bad, but I'm not sure I'll order it again. We also had some ddeok (rice cakes) and han-gwa (a different kind of rice cake) to go with our tea. Yum again.After our tea, we went out and walked around Insadong. We saw this man making ddeok. He took steaming rice, seasoned with daisy leaves, and used this giant mallet to smash it into a think, gooey paste. It was fun to watch, as you can see by the crowd that gathered around. Next we visited a contemporary art gallery that was really interesting. The photography and collage exhibits were my favorites, but there were also terrific paintings of giant snails with shells made out of fruit, vegetables, and seafood. Mi-jin and Yi-soon walked through a little faster than I would have preferred. There were 6 floors, and I think we saw the whole thing in under an hour. I'm not sure how long the exhibits will be there, but I definitely want to go back.

From the art gallery, we walked around a little more and then decided it was time for dinner. We ate a wonderful spicy chicken soup that was served sizzling, with all kinds of side dishes, including kimchi of course. Yum!EMH and Mi-jin in the restaurant:Mi-jin and Yi-soon had to catch a train to go back home, but it was still early this evening, so after saying good-bye to them, I went to the jjimjilbang (public bathhouse). Since it was a Saturday night, I was worried that it would be really crowded, but it wasn't too bad. I stayed for a couple hours, soaking in the different tubs, sweating in the fomentation rooms, and eating kwa-il-bing-soo (shaved ice with milk, fruit, and juice--yum!), before heading back to my apartment. I will definitely miss the jjimjilbang when I go back to the U.S.!

So it was a nice day with good friends. I'm happy.