The Repatriated Expat

Mele Kalikimaka from O'ahu

2010-12-26T09:27:00.000+09:00

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! We hope you are all safe and sound, enjoying the holiday weekend with your loved ones.

Being a northern hemisphere resident, and not normally in tropical locations on December 25th, today was full of firsts for me. I wore sunscreen today. And shorts.

Because it's a holiday, and the normal Honolulu traffic was non-existent, we took a drive up to Haleiwa on the North Shore of O'ahu. We passed the Dole Plantation (closed) and lots of pineapples. (Are pineapples grown in groves or orchards?) We made it up to the Haleiwa beach park with little to no traffic, and saw plenty of surfers out in the water. It was a beautiful day, warm with a slight breeze. It most definitely does not feel like Christmas.

There were two sets of surfers. The younger ones in closer to shore, and then the older ones out farther. I can't really tell, but I'd guess that the waves were about 12-15 feet.

We saw quite a few turtles out in the water, plus a few on the beach.

And yes, pay phones do still exist.

After leaving Haleiwa, we thought about heading towards Waimea, but the dreaded traffic appeared heading in that direction, so back home to Honolulu we went. Where we will have pork tacos with homemade salsa for our Christmas dinner. Another first for me!

Thanksgiving thanks

2010-11-26T01:56:00.000+09:00

I am thankful for many things this year, including...

being back in the U.S. on Turkey Day
having the day off (and Friday, too!)
having turkey for dinner
having an oven big enough to cook a turkey in
The Husband that cooks the turkey
Mom who taught me how to make wild rice and gravy

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My current temporary office

2010-11-20T16:57:00.001+09:00

The view in my current office. The map on the wall has certainly been a conversation point. Many thanks to my team in Seoul for this wonderful map.

Oh, and yes, my office, is the same size as one of the "holding pens" in Seoul that held 4 people. I have so many drawers I can't remember where I put stuff.

Thanks guys!

Restaurants I miss...

2010-10-12T15:34:00.000+09:00

We're now on week 4 or 5 of hotels and restaurant meals. To be honest, I've lost track of how long we've been eating restaurant meals. But it's long enough that at the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is decide which restaurant I want to go to. I'd much rather go to my kitchen, open the refrigerator, and pull out some leftovers. Like Irish beef stew. Or baked chicken and mashed potatoes. So as we struggle to decide the eternal question, where are we going tonight for dinner, I've been thinking about some of the places I miss.

Riverside, CA:
Romano's Pizza. Especially after two years of no pizza (Anthony's doesn't count), this was delicious. Doesn't matter if it's the thin crust or not. It's good.
Art's Bar & Grill. Can't beat the Wednesday or Saturday prime rib special.

Santa Barbara, CA:
Pane e Vino. Fettuccine ai formaggi. Still one of my all time favorites.
The Palace. Good food, good service.

Jacksonville, FL:
Sticky Fingers. I miss the combo where you can get 4 different kinds of ribs.
Sliders. The crabcakes. The beach atmosphere.

Seoul:
Sultan's Kebabs. Great lunch.
Le Sainte Ex. Excellent dinners.
Yongsusan: Only ate here once. But it's still the most memorable meal I've ever eaten outside of one particular Valentine's Day dinner someone cooked for me.

I know, I know. At some point I'll have some favorites in Honolulu. But for now, Waikiki options are over priced. Or chain restaurants. There are only so many times I can eat Cheesecake Factory cheesecake before I get tired of it.

So, what are your favorite restaurants?

Thank you!

2010-09-09T19:08:00.000+09:00

A great big thank you to my team, who treated me to a wonderful dinner at Tang.
It was a dark and stormy night. Yet we managed to get all the way across the river and to the restaurant in time. I'm not sure I've seen it rain that hard here before. And there was thunder and lightning to add some ambience. So we were all a bit soaked by the time we got there.

We had the fixed price menu, which came with the option of green fried rice or pho as the main entree. We had some appetizers, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera. We'd pretty much inhaled them. The first one had kind of a thick rice paper wrapper and the second was fried spring roll. Then we had this dish with noodles, broth, and salad with a dish of pork on the side. You dipped the pork and noodles into the broth. Salad, too, if you were so inclined.

Noodles and salad with broth

Pork with green onion like vegetable

Pho, with beef, rice noodles, green onions, and sliced onion

Dessert, tomato sorbet (I think)

Thank you to my team for a wonderful dinner!

Seoul at night

2010-09-09T18:52:00.000+09:00

I will miss Seoul. I'm looking forward to our next stop, but I will miss Seoul. It has been home for two years. I've figured out the subway and the bus. I've learned how to squeeze myself into an already full bus or subway car. My sense of personal space has changed. I've learned that walking down a crowded sidewalk is a contact sport. I will miss the lunch options... Turkish kebab, Korean bulgogi, Mexican taco, Austrian sandwich, American burger, Indian curry, Paraguayan empanada, Italian pasta, Chinese noodles, Japanese teriyaki, Vietnamese pho, Thai fried noodles.

I will miss the fact that there are a gazillion restaurants within meters of the front door of my apartment building. And the 7-11 right across the street. I will miss the four different seasons but I won't miss the freezing cold of winter. I will miss watching Namsan Mountain turning yellow and red in fall. I will miss watching the ginkgo tree leaves change color.

But most of all, I will miss my friends.

Looking towards Seoul Tower

Looking east

The Tomgi Hotel starburst sign.

More lanterns...

2010-06-21T07:17:00.002+09:00

Here are more lanterns at a different Buddhist temple in the Samcheongdong area.

Lanterns at night along one of the smaller streets in the Samcheongdong area.

Dunkin Donuts Mangosteen Filled Donut

2010-06-20T07:18:00.001+09:00

Korean Dunkin Donuts has a wide range of filled donuts. They each come in a little paper wrapper, with a picture of the fruit. They have pineapple, and raspberry, and blueberry, and mangosteen.

dumplings and noodles

2010-06-19T20:33:00.000+09:00

Seoul is filled with little restaurants that specialize in one or two items. No matter which direction you go, there are small restaurants with a few tables, a few signs on the wall with the menu with 5-6 items, and self serve water or tea and side dishes. A few weeks ago, we saw a couple of restaurants that looked worth trying, so tonight we went back. One served dumplings (meat, seafood, or vegetable), and the other served fried noodles, fried dumplings, and a dumpling soup. We saw people with dumplings in the noodle restaurant, and people with noodles and soup in the dumpling restaurant. But we couldn't figure out the magic words to get noodles in the dumpling restaurant. So we had dumplings first, then went to the second restaurant for our second course. Next time, we'll start at the noodle restaurant and have the dumplings second.

Meat dumplings:

You get 6 steamed dumplings per order. Meat is a pork mixture. Vegetable had baby leeks, finely chopped noodles, and a touch of tofu. Next time I'll try the seafood.

Fried noodles (aka yakisoba). Has onion, finely sliced carrot, green onions, and a bit of meat.

Introducing the Park Ji Sung Soccer Donut

2010-06-19T20:22:00.000+09:00

In honor of the World Cup, Dunkin Donuts is currently serving the Park Ji Sung soccer donut.

With a cream filling lightly reminiscent of citrus.

Lanterns

2010-06-02T07:14:00.000+09:00

Spring in Korea means lanterns! They're bright and colorful, and fun to see strung up along the streets. Or at Jogyesa, where they string them all across the open plaza area in front of the temple.

Looking straight up:

Side of Jogyesa building:

Corner of rooftop. I love the colors!

Statue in a park behind Jogyesa. I have no idea who this is.

Octopus, it's what's for lunch. A tank full of octopi outside a restaurant.

Statues outside the arts center.

Spring in Seoul

2010-05-22T10:18:00.000+09:00

May 5th this year was Children's Day here in Korea. Which means it was a holiday. And I had the day off from work. Early in the day, before the hordes came out, we went for a long walk towards Independence Gate and Seodaemun Prison. The weather was beautiful.

Independence Gate:

Some beautiful spring flowers in the park.

More flowers.

In the same park as Independence Gate is Seodaemun Prison. This is where the Japanese incarcerated and tortured Korean resistance leaders. It is now restored and can be walked through. Seodaemun Prison is depressing, and full of horrific examples of what people can and do to each other. But it is worth seeing because of the role it played in history here in Korea.

Outside the prison, in the park, there were more beautiful flowers.

Sign for a coffee shop.

Moving statue.

In honor of mother's day... My matrilineal line

2010-05-09T18:25:00.000+09:00

My matrilineal line is where I got my mitochondrial DNA, passed down from mother to child.

1) Me

2) Mom

3) My grandmother

4) Illah Blanch Lent, b. 20 Sep 1874 Byron, IL, d. 15 Feb 1942, Manson, IA
This is the person I've heard referred to as a martinet.

5) Elsie Jane Terbush, b. 4 Apr 1843, Oneida Co., NY, d. 23 Oct 1909, Manson, IA

6) Mary Ann Howland, b. abt 1816, New York State, d. before 1870
And this is where I need to do some research because I have nothing further on this line.

And we're off...

2010-04-21T18:53:00.000+09:00

The standard Korean Air from ICN experience...

The seaweed soup:

The bibimbap:

globalization

2010-04-20T17:39:00.000+09:00

An American living in Korea, on vacation in Hong Kong with her Trinidadian husband, drinking Chilean wine and Laotian beer, sitting next to an American and Swede talking about sailing in the Philippines.

Looking at this just makes me hungry...

2010-04-11T21:39:00.000+09:00

Pork cooked in achiote sauce in banana leaves until it falls apart, with homemade salsa.

Haebongchong Walk

2010-04-10T21:02:00.000+09:00

The other weekend, we headed out for a walk. Now that slightly fewer layers are needed to brave the outdoors, we've been more inclined to go outside and check stuff out.

Here's the Alice in Wonderland themed area in front of a building near Cheonggyechong. I can't remember which building it is, but I'm always fascinated by all the bright colors here. Especially during winter when there isn't much else around.

Here's a piece of art made of car headlights.

A traditional Korean building, sandwiched between two modern buildings.

On this particularly bright, sunny, yet still a bit on the sharply cold side, we headed south towards Namdaemun Market, then to Namsan Mt. Here's part of the wine display at the Hilton Hotel. Yes, that's Meridian. It's not quite the same as the winery in Paso Robles, but at least I know I can get a bottle if I really want one. Anyway, on our way to Namsan, we cheat a bit. We could take the practically straight uphill road to Namsan Park. Or, we could go through the Hilton, entering via the lower level parking garage and taking the elevator to the main lobby.

Once out the front door of the Hilton, the road up to Namsan is straight in front. Here's one of the many view from the road that goes around the mountain, heading towards Haebongchong and Itaewon.

Seoul Tower

One of the statues along the way. There is a library up here, along with a few other facilities.

A phone booth, with a real paper phone book.

Another statue.

View of Seoul

Another view of Seoul further up the road.

View of Seoul, over the Haebongchong area.

Haebongchong heading down to Banporyo, which is the main drag my office is located off of, is pretty much a straight down descent. Let's just say I wouldn't want to have anything more than a glass of wine before trying to go either up or down the street if I lived here. Here as well as in Itaewon, there are houses with decks and stairs and often a pooch or two hanging around.

The kimchi pot gate.

And there ends our walk to Haebongchong. At this point, we dodged a few motorcycles, crossed under the street, and caught the bus home and took a well deserved afternoon nap.

Myeongdong Entertainment

2010-04-09T20:58:00.001+09:00

The other day, we headed out for dinner. Now that it's just cold instead of bitterly cold, it's slightly more pleasant to go out and walk around. So we headed down to Din Tai Fung, me for the dumplings and the husband for the Chinese food. On the way, we passed by this makeshift stand with some performers.

And after dinner, we wandered through a couple of alleys until we hit the main drag, trying to find our way home. You never know what you might see down these alleys. Here's a half truck, half restaurant. Usually, the restaurants are standalone tents. And usually the trucks are standalone trucks with people selling rotisserie chickens, fruit, vegetables, or seafood out of them. Here, however, is a combo.

Konglish and Itaewon Station

2010-04-08T20:54:00.000+09:00

Some random Konglish in Itaewon:

I'm not sure if this is Konglish or not:

Mural in Itaewon Station:

To get this photo, we're headed down the escalator. See, just a few months ago, we would have been going up this escalator. For some reason, used to be that when walking down the street, you walked on the left. Kind of like the British driving on the left. Except in Korea, they drive on the right, like in the U.S. So one day, the government decided that it would be better if everyone walked on the right, too. So they switched all the escalators around. So what used to go up, now goes down, and vice versa.

random wandering

2010-03-18T18:51:00.000+09:00

A couple of weeks ago, we walked down towards Dongdaemun, then headed back to the Jongno area, via a couple of markets and random streets. I know I've been here for a while now that nothing in the open food markets surprises me, and I can even say, as I wander through, "Hm, had that, tried that, oh, I know what that is." In fact, channel surfing that morning, we saw a cooking show on one of the Korean channels, and then in the market, we saw the exact same kind of dried fish. Not sure what it was, but we could certainly soak it and trim it and prep it to eat now.

This is one of the motels we saw. They have these privacy curtains so once you pull in and get out of your car, you're not clearly visible to the street.

Home sweet home.

no, say it isn't so!

2010-03-16T16:13:00.000+09:00

Saturday night, since it was a delightful evening, not too freezing cold, we ventured out for an evening on the town, starting with Tex-Mex at Los Amigos and some sour lemon margaritas. Seems like their margarita recipe had changed since the last time we were there. After that, it was a stroll down the street to Vin Vino, the new incarnation of Kabinett, so we could check out the new place. Which, by the way, now has a smaller dining area, has no desserts on their menu, and has an industrial style decor.

We decided to try the "wine flight" because we had no idea what any of the wines were. Used to be that there would be about 4 or 5 red ones and 4 or 5 white ones to choose from if you just wanted a glass of wine. Now, there was one white, and 5 reds. And each month, the wine region changes. For March, it's France. For April, it will be a different region, but they didn't know which one yet. So if you didn't like the one white wine available by the glass, and you didn't want to buy a bottle, you were out of luck.

So, here's the wine flight. Note the little, tiny glasses. I usually like to take a whiff of my wine before sipping, see if it smells like wine. Here, all I got was eau de dish soap. And of all the wines, I only liked the last one, the $10/glass one.

After Vin Vino, and still in search of dessert, we headed over to Chef Meili's for sacher torte and apple strudel. As always, delicious.

Here's a shop sign in Itaewon.

NOOO!! Say it isn't so!!! Taco Bell is coming to Korea! In the building where Patio used to be located, just down the road from the Itaewon station.

unexpected free day

2010-03-16T16:00:00.000+09:00

I had an unexpected free day today, so I did a little wandering. Unfortunately, while it's somewhat pleasant in the sun, it's very cold and windy today, so I didn't do as much walking about as I'd wanted to. Plus, today was a Yellow Dust day, and the Army's website says conditions are moderate. Turns out outdoor PE was cancelled for the school kids and they had to stay indoors.

At one end of Insadong, there is an open plaza area where they stage historical re-enactments of traditional ceremonies, like weddings, that has just been redone. Now, there's the stage, but also room for vendors to set up stalls and sell stuff.

Pillar at edge of the plaza area with tile flower designs:

Stage:

After leaving Insadong, I headed up for Samcheongdong, another little touristy area nearby. There are lots of art galleries, and various pieces of art installed along the streets. There was one stone wall that had what I originally thought were bits of chewing gum stuck to it, but upon closer inspection, it was stone stuff glued to the wall. There were quite a few of these throughout the area. Here's a street corner with paintings on the walls and a sign pointing towards someplace.

Building in Samcheongdong. The colors are what caught my eye.

Door of a house. Many of the doors are these colored panels with designs on them. Apparently there were dogs there because they started barking as soon as I turned off my camera.

Traditional style compound, with main house surrounded by stone fence.

Older style building. According to the plaque, this is the "Original Site of the Joseon Language Society." I couldn't find much about the Joseon Language Society in a very quick google search, but it appears that it came about during the Japanese colonial period as a form of resistance to ensure that the Korean language was not lost.

Typical street in this neighborhood, or at least one big enough for cars to drive down.

I'm searching for a place that I've seen described in summaries of things to do and see in Samcheongdong, and if and when I ever find it, I'll post about it. It has been described as difficult to find. But in the meantime, I've done some urban hiking in search of it. I've noticed that on the map I have of this area, that the line width should not be used as an indicator of whether or not a route is really a street or not. I walked up to a specific place, which according to the map, should have a road right next to it, since the two lines were of the same width. Nope. Turns out that while it looks like a road on the map, it's really a very narrow alley between two buildings, that turns into a flight of uneven concrete steps going up between houses. With post boxes. I'd hate to be the mailman in that neighborhood, although I'd probably be in amazing shape. This is the view from the top of the steps. Which, by the way, put you right into the middle of a street at the top. And yes, on the map, both the street and the alley are the same line width.

View from upper road, looking out over the southern end of Samcheongdong-gil. Traditional style building is most likely the National Folk Museum of Korea.

I think this is art. But I'm not entirely sure.

Random art along the road. The Star Wars characters are what caught my eye. The letters along the bottom read: I Thought What I'd Do Was I'd Pretend I Was One Of Those Deaf-Mutes, Or Should I?

And after all this walking around, I can barely feel my fingers. So it's time to go home and warm up.

Samil and Tapgol Park

2010-03-01T14:19:00.000+09:00

Samil, which is the numbers three (sam) and one (il) combined, is the holiday commemorating the March 1st Movement, or resistance against the Japanese. On March 1, 1919, a group of Korean nationalists read a Declaration of Independence near Tapgol Park. In the first picture below of Tapgol Park (all taken from my apartment), the monument for Samil is the grey stone wall on the left side between the gate at the top and pagoda on the bottom.

This year, it's a rather cold, windy, blustery day after a night and morning of rain so there aren't that many people out at the moment. There are still loudspeakers going, with speeches and music, though.

Duck in Chyeonggyecheon

2010-03-01T14:09:00.000+09:00

kimchi jiggae dinner

2010-02-27T12:51:00.000+09:00

On my list of Korean foods to try was kimchi jiggae. So we went in search of a small kimchi jiggae restaurant over near the US embassy. This place was hard to find, with just a sign above the door which got lost among all the neon signs sticking out into the alley.

We opened the door and immediately walked into a table, with patrons. We managed to work our way upstairs and sat down. The stairs required intense concentration and much dexterity. I highly recommend staying completely sober if eating upstairs in this restaurant for your safety. The foot of the stairs are across from a stove with pots of bubbling stuff, which means falling would result in more than just bruises. And the steps themselves are a bit narrow, even for my size 5 feet.

Once we sat down, they brought out trays with our pot (for 2 people) of kimchi jiggae and put it on the burner. Note the green pipe -- this is the gas pipe. The pipe came down and wrapped behind me along the wall. There are so many things I see in restaurants here that I don't think I would ever see in the U.S., such as barbecue grills on the table in front of you, burners on the table, and gas heated cooking stoves right in front of you.

Kimchi jiggae is a stew made with 3 year old kimchi, tofu, and pork. It's spicy. For me, it was a touch spicy, but it was still good. Made my nose run and sweat break out on my forehead.

Our side dishes... kimchi, bean sprouts, water radish kimchi, something else in red sauce, and an egg roll, which was essentially an omelet with green onions.

This is the entrance to the restaurant. To the left is a door with Chinese symbols that say small rain. I'm not sure what that means.