Movie and Eel for dinner!

Today was our school's "Culture Day" for 5th grade, 6th grade, and English teachers!  This basically means that we're allowed to leave work 2 hours early to go do something "culturally Korean!"  Good news is, we never actually HAVE to do something Koreanish, we just have to say and write that we are!  YAY!  So, all of us left school at 2:30pm and headed to Nampodong to see a movie!  Most of the teachers saw a Korean movie, but Loola, Hyun Jung and I went to see TAKEN 2.  There was A LOT of violence, so poor Loola had her hand over her face almost the whole movie!  

Okk, Loola, Me, Hana, and Hyun Jung outside the theater in Nampodong.

Next stop was Amnam Park, where we all met for a group photo (typical Korean style)!

*** These are all of the 5th grade, 6th grade, and English teachers.

... as we were perusing through the park, Loola asked if she could try using my camera to take a picture of Hyun Jung and I on the steps.  She took this picture, looked at it and immediately squeeled, "I want one with Chelsey too!" Awe! 

hence... the same photo, with Loola!  :)

We all headed down to a seaside seafood BBQ tent!  How awesome is this place?  There are plastic windows in the back of the tent, that were zipped down tonight so that we could enjoy the gorgeous view of Yeongdo Island across the water and the giant bridge connecting Songdo to Yeongdo!  It was one of the coolest eating atmospheres that I've experienced in almost 4 years of living here!

There are perks to eating at little whole in the wall beach side tents, like having a cozy and charming place to eat... but then there are negatives to it, too.  Like when you find a worm in your edamame!   I'm guessing there aren't a whole lot of food regulations around these parts!

After waiting about 20 minutes, the lady brought out thie GIANT tray of shellfish!  Clams with chopped veggies, octopus in a red sauce, more clams in red sauce, covered in cheese, and a giant bowl of hot pepper clam soup!

These were something I would never have touched in America!  Now they're one of my favorite foods!

When the lady brought this basket of freshly slaughtered eel, I almost threw up.  Turns out though, once eel is cooked up, dipped in a little oil and salt mixture, it's fantastic! :)

I had another first tonight!  I ate the creatures growing inside of these seashells.

Here it is, up close!  

Slimy? - You bet'cha! 

Rubbery? - Oh yes!  

A little sandy? - Yep!  

Yummy? - Surprisingly so!

The 9 of us all stayed huddled around these two round BBQ tables, cooking, eating, talking, laughing, and drinking (our table just had cider - but still!) until the sun went down and the lights of the island lit up the ocean water! 

I'd venture to say that this was my all time favorite teacher dinner in 3 1/2 years! :)

Cheers to that!