Picture potpourri

Here's a random assortment of photos that didn't quite warrant full blog entries. Let's start with the best. Me as Aladdin:

Just kidding, I'm not dressed as Aladdin (thanks to S.O. for the joke), but I'm wearing a Hanbok, the traditional Korean dress that they now reserve for holidays. In this case, it was Soo's birthday.

I think everyone else pulled it off better than I did:

S.O. is wearing the same Hanbok as I in this picture, but he looks much more comfortable in it.

Here's a picture of us before we donned the Hanboks:

We ate some delicious Korean food, including bulgogi (beef), pajeon (an egg and green onion dish) and a dish that involved wrapping vegetables, egg and meat into a radish and eating it. This last one was the best, but I forget the name.

A few weeks earlier, many of the afternoon teachers feasted on raw fish at Dokdo, a restaurant named after the infamous island that everyone on the Ullendo Island trip hated. The restaurant version was pretty good, though. For about 20,000 won (about $18) you had all you can eat raw fish, plus plenty of side dishes that normally aren't available in most restaurants. For anyone who's never tried it, raw fish isn't all that bad. I prefer cooked fish, but the raw version is better than it sounds. Here's the evidence:

Various fish, served raw. To the right, a dish that resembled creamed corn

This is Gyeran Jjim, basically an egg souffle. This is served everywhere as a side dish, but for me, it never gets old

Cooked fish with what tasted like maple syrup on it. Sounds weird, until you try it.

Us stuffed and happy 

Some are curious how we spend Thanksgiving here in Seoul. It's easy. The Army base here sells Turkey dinners with plenty of sides for about $100. We ordered two. Here's what we got:

That was just the first round. Here's us:

For at least one of the Korean teachers, it was the first time she tasted Turkey. Then again, nearly every week for me marks the first time I tried a certain Korean food.

This last picture is of the Seoul Lantern Festival, held each year to celebrate the G20 Seoul Summit and 2010 Visit Korea Year. Basically, it's meant to promote Seoul as a tourist city. It was so crowded, I couldn't get down for a closer picture.

2010 Seoul Lantern Festival

The lanterns were set up along the river in the Cheonggyecheon area. One of the themes of the lanterns, it seemed, was the cross-cultural aspect that included not only American, but Korean, Japanese and Middle-Eastern likenesses. As an expatriate loving my life here, 7,000 miles from home, I'd say it was an appropriate choice.