111 Biweekly Journal #4

[Seokjoon Han]

During my language partner sessions with Rachel, we practiced talking in Korean by just talking about what is going on in our lives in Korean. We talked about the time we spent a couple days ago. Me, my roommate Ephraim, Janette, and Rachel all went to a Korean restaurant to eat some Korean food. Rachel kept nagging me about wanting to eat Korean food so I told her to ask Ephraim if he could drive us. Ephraim agreed and so we went! The restaurant is named Seoul Restaurant and it was moderately priced. I got a black bean noodle dish called jjangjangmyeon. I also got a spicy tofu soup dish that is called soondooboojigae. If I am being completely honest, the food was pretty bland. If I had to rate the food out of ten it would be mayb a 6. Rachel got a pork cutlet with some dumplings that is called donkasu. Janette got a galbi spicy soup and Ephraim got a cold noodle soup called nangmyeon. I ended up paying for them. R.I.P to my bank account. But overall, the experience was good. The restaurant actually had a little Korean supermarket so after eating we got some Korean desserts. I also bought chocolate wafers for a special somebody. It was also the first time Janette and Rachel hung out in person so that was good to see. Rachel also told me that she is pretty adamant about changing her major. She is uncertain right now of what to change it to, but she really does not like accounting. I’m in a similar pickle as I am reconsidering my Computer Science major. Rachel, Ephraim, and I also practiced Korean saturday as well. I invited Rachel out to visit friends I knew from VCU. She was hesitant at first to go with us but after I told her there would be Korean food, she changed her mind quickly and agreed to come. My friend cooked us some Korean barbeque. He fried up some pork belly called sam gup sal, and cooked some braised beef ribs called galbi that his mom dropped off. He also cooked us some jin ramen. It was nice to see Rachel eating a lot since she usually does not eat much in dhall. I felt sort of bad because of the fact that she was the only girl in the room for a while. But at the end of the night, I asked her if she had fun, and she said she did so yeah. I was able to dive in and enjoy more of Korean culture on Sunday! Ephraim’s mother planned us a feast! She literally bought like 10 pounds of meat and it was pretty nuts. She had galbi, sam gup sal, kim bap, kimchi, and so many side dishes! Everytime I go to Ephraim’s house I am thankful and impressed by the hospitality his mom shows me. My other roomates who are not Korean also came to enjoy the feast. It was fun to see them meet Ephraim’s family and enjoy Korean food.

[Rachel Lim]

Thank you for the food! I think food is a very important part of all cultures. There was a time in Korea where I researched about different types of food for a project in school and I found out that each food had some tradition or meaning to it. In college I really missed Korean food and was able to have them thanks to you. It felt like I was reunited with my culture~