FOOD

So, to sum up what I am going to write about, let me give you a short anecdote.

About 2 minutes ago, my host mom came up to me (I'm sitting at the computer) and brought Korean yogurt and a spoon and started feeding me. 

Don't get me wrong, the yogurt is delicious, but I did JUST eat breakfast.  I feel like this is coming off as annoyed, but it really isn't.  I LOVE the food here!  Everything is so good! But one point that I feel that I am having trouble communicating is that if I was full 5 minutes ago, chances are I'm still full now.  I've only been with my host family 3 nights, and I think my weight is growing exponentially.  The other night, my host dad came home from work, and he brought Bulgogi pizza home.  So we ate that.  Me, being the 3-meal-a-day American that I am, supposed that that was dinner.  Wrong.  Because about 20 minutes later, my host dad brings out this dinner that he prepared, with rice, kimchi, potatoes, and some weird fish broth thingy.  What I didn't know then (but learned half way through the meal) is that the spoon is on the table so you can scoop the rice you don't want out of your bowl before you start eating, and then you are expected to eat what you leave in your bowl.  In other words, Emma ends up eating a whole bowl of rice because she doesn't want to offend people and that is what Da Young is doing, and when in doubt, following Da Young's example is a good idea.  So I end up EXTREMELY stuffed.

About 2 hours later (in which I am STILL stuffed), my host mom comes back from work, and she brings corn that she bought on the street.  She's like, "Emma! I bought this for you! Eat it!".  And so, super stuffed Emma ends up eating corn too (but for the record, corn on the cob here is better than in America).

After this, we sat around and tried to communicate for like 2 hours, which was really fun, and I gave them their gifts, which they really liked, and then it was midnight.  My host mom and Da Young were like, "Kim Heechul will be on TV!"  So we stayed up until 2 AM watching SM Town Paris, which was AWESOME.  My host mom was a little bit concerned with Lady Heehee xD  Oh, I forgot to mention, at about 11:30, my host parents cut up a bunch of fruit and served this big fruit platter.  I love fruit, but stuffed is stuffed.  Of course, they served it to me, so I ate it anyways ><  KOREAN PEACHES ARE THE BEST THINGS EVER!

Yesterday we went to the market, or Korean grocery store.  It was essentially like a Marsh or Kroger, except there is a whole bunch of gross looking fish stuff and a whole aisle of ramen.  I'm pretty sure we don't still have Oreo O's cereal in America, but it is pretty popular here.  The most interesting part of the grocery, is that you check out and put your items directly back into the cart.  Then, you take your cart downstairs (there is an escalator ramp thing) and go outside to this metal counter that has box tape and broken down boxes next to it.  Then, you put all your groceries into boxes to bring them home.  Quite different from America.  Also, Korean ice cream is excellent.  In fact, this yogurt I am sitting here eating is quite excellent to.  Read as:  Emma is gaining like 30 pounds.

Another interesting thing I have been observing is the whole gender roles thing.  Now, I've only been here like 3 days, so by no means am I an expert, but there have been some things that I've noticed.  The other day, when my mom was at work, my dad came home from work and made dinner.  He then did the laundry and washed the dishes.  So much for the theory that Korean women wait on the men.  But then, a very interesting thing occured.  While my host brother was on one of his 4 hour long Starcraft campaigns, he refused to come eat (he can be somewhat of a brat sometimes) and so my host mom brought the food to the computer and hand fed him while he was busy using his hands to play starcraft. 

Interesting.