Yesterday we had lunch at a chabu chabu place, which is basically Korean fondu. I made some pretty neat discoveries about food while I was at the restaurant.
Cooking things in a hot spicy soup pretty much makes everything delicious
I really enjoy squid. Especially the head parts(I forgot the word for it, but isn't it something like a wintry clothing item)
rice, eggs, and onion all cooked together on a hot iron bowl is possibly the closest thing to broccoli rice casserole. It's also just as good, incase anyone was wondering.
Anyways, all of the exchange students were there eating, and we had a good time. I sat at the table with Mr. Kang and someone else who works in the office with him. The guy was really nice and did his best to explain things and help when he could. I really had a fun time at our table. Mr. Kang is definitely a character and I'm very glad to have him on my side of the information.
We had mondu there in the restaurant, as well, and I know what mond is, but it definitely warrants some introduction. Mondu is basically like a delicious egg roll, but instead of the fried exterior, imagine that it was a nicely colored (any color basically) and nice and soft. So soft in fact that it can be easily pierced with only the superpowers afforded by one/two chopsticks. Mondu, though, is much better than egg rolls, in that the emphasis is shifted away from the cabbage and other unnecessary ruffage present in the steretypical treat from china. The (other chinese treat, less known, however) deliciousness of the mondu comes from the fact that it has a fair amount of meat and spices which basically cause it to taste more like a meaty spring roll. Circular description or not, I hope you come across mondu at some point. Oh, and its cheap too.
We left the restaurant and ended up going to Kmart for groceries and a new clothes drying rack (I forgot how physics worked and accidentally broke the last one). Kmart was pretty neat, but it wasn't the same as our Kmart at home. I didn't expet to be, just figured it was a good point to make. It was however, just what I was hoping for. There was fresh produce, fresh fruit, fresh kimchi, meats, a fresh (and may I say, tantalizingly, torturingly, beautifully tempting to the nose, especially if the nose is attached to a face which is already hungry) bakery, and all kinds of foodstuffs imaginable.
I didn't spend very much, when I think about how it can all space out. It's easily a week of breakfast, and healthy snacks (and some not so much healthy), so I'm happy about my gettings. Oh, and peppermint tea. I can't forget how I snagged peppermint tea, and pancake mix. Eli offered to let us cook at her place sometime, so I think the first thing I want is pancakes (I know, I know, a rash decision, but I thought it was a good prelude to next week's patty melt).
I forgot also that I went to the library too. I met a Korean librarian who speaks english really well, and she showed me how to access the chemistry journal. They are so gifted here with the amount of journals they get. Basically, they have all the ACS publications. It's amazing, really. Anyways, I am getting to read some really cool stuff, and I like it a lot.
Let's move on to today, shall we?
Today was actually a lot of fun. It was meant to be a relaxing day that just kind of brought me back down a stress level or two, and it definitely reached its purpose.
It started off by waking up at my own pace, at 9 o clock, and a big cup of coffee. To go with said cup of delicious coffee goodness was some bready breakfast item and a tangerine. I knew I was going to lunch at twelve, so I wanted to watch my girlish figure for breakfast. After my little breakfast, I read a journal article, genuinely learned something really interesting, and attempted to find another article, to no avail.
At twelve, me and Kayla went to Isaacs toast. I think I have eaten there a whole lot, but only on the weekend, because basically nothing else on campus is open. It's so good though, and is the only western food I have here really, and it keeps my head up when it comes to missing the food from back home.
After my three hot ham and cheese with eggs (and a really delicious sweet sauce), it was time for a picture taking excursion. I posted pretty much all of the pictures (with the exceptions of identical pictures just with different filters) are on facebook now. I took some good ones I think, but I can never tell if they are actually any good or not. I took almost 170 pictures, though, and it was a great time. We basically meandered through and around the campus, finding neat places, and actually a bunch of places I had never ever seen before.
This campus continuously amazes me. There is everything you could want from a campus here. There is incredible facilities and equipment, beautiful aesthetics, plenty of teachers, helpful staff, research opportunities, and now, as I have just recently found out, an entire system of trails which go through woods and up and down hills, and end in a beautiful little park. I'm so excited that I found all the neat little spots today.
After the fun picture taking adventure, it was time for seminar meeting with my (new) research group. I was so excited! I love research! So we all assembled (all 4 of us) and I got to listen to a couple of presentations about their contact making system and also about a project they will start working on, which will deal with chemo sensors. I actually had to give a presentation as well. I thought I did very well, because I was nervous, but the professor had good questions, and it seems like he liked what he saw. He also has an idea about what he would like me to do, I think, and it seems like it will involve supramolecular synthesis of fluorosensors which contain at least one crown ether moiety. That will only help advance my work at Murray, also, so it's doubly good.
After the seminar was over, he brought me into his office and handed me a couple of papers he co-authored. He told me to read them by tomorrow. When I asked why by tomorrow, a sunday, he said, my wife and son would like to meet you. I also want to discuss your direction, so please meet me here at my office on 5 so that we can have dinner, discuss your direction, and make good memories. It's going to be great I think. I am nervous about my korean, though. Let's hope I can stumble through enough to not be a bad guest ha ha.
The culture here is so neat, and I'm going to have a chance to go to a real Korean household! I'm so excited! I hope it turns out to be a good experience. I honestly don't have any doubt about that, but I still need to hope, I think.
Also, I finally figured out what is going on with ping pong this week. I will have training tuesday through friday and then on saturday, I will meet the team at 6AM (6!) at the bus stop and we will journey from there to Gumi. I will participate in both team and in single matches. I'm really excited and will work hard to not get so nervous this time. This week will be serious practice throughout.
I'm truly happy that my classes are going smoothly and that I'm getting everything pretty easily, at least so far. We have midterms on friday, and the tournament is Saturday. It will turn out exactly the way it's supposed to, I think.
Well, I could write more, but I don't think I could write much more about what I've done in the past two days.
For Now,
Aron Huckaba International Vagabond
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