Jinju

Last Saturday I took a bus down to a southern city called Jinju. It's a smaller city, of about 200-300,000 people. It was definitely a nice change from the 10+million Seoul. It was a beautiful day on Saturday, and even better on Sunday. Finally! Oh yeah, and then I get back to Incheon and it's raining and 40 degrees. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. But that's a different story...

Here are some pictures of Jinju and some parks we walked around in





We walked through a bamboo forest as well:




The actual purpose of our trip was a friend's production of The Vagina Monologues in Jinju.I jumped at the opportunity because I had never seen the show, and as I said, it is always nice to venture into a new city. Not to mention transportation is dirt cheap in this country. Anyway, overall, the show was great; a nice combination of light-hearted comedy as well as some tragedy with an underlying empowering message. The highlight was the 50-year-old co-teacher of one of the actresses. The costume theme was black with red accessories, so many people wore red belts, shoes, scarves, etc. This older woman (referred to as an "Ajama" in Korean) decked herself out in full red gear, including a fire engine red wig.



She was one of the only Koreans, so I have to give her serious props for doing this. First of all, she had to memorize an entire monologue in a foreign language. Second, the content of her speech and the whole production would be quite taboo in many realms of Korean society. Her speech was called "The Flood," so, use your imagination.

Before we left on Sunday we went to eat Shabu Shabu, which I had not yet eaten in Korea. It is kind of a 3-course meal: You begin with a spicy soup, a plate of raw meat and vegetables, a bowl of noodles, and a bowl of rice with some herbs and a raw egg.




As the soup begins to boil, you start to add the vegetables. Then when the soup is hot enough, you dip the raw meat into the soup and allow it to cook the meat. The strips of beef are so thin that they actually cook in about 5 seconds. After you enjoy the meat and vegetables, the second step is adding the noodles, which kind of remind me of fettucini. I had never seen that type of noodle in Korea before, usually only ramen or udong. Once you have finished the last of the noodles and broth, the server comes to make you the fried rice. This fried rice was especially delicious because the pan allows it to be nice and crispy. Yummy. I should have taken more pictures, but I was too busy eating.