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Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Abundance Yum!: Pasta in Korea

You know you love Korean food, but now and then you still want to have something non-Korean. You have options in this matter, but the most easy one is finding a pasta / pizza place. These days you can get great options at various places, or lousy ones and wonder what's wrong with the universe. Let's see what folks have enjoyed in the past, and see for ourselves what's good or not.

1. Eleonora's Life in Korea: The reason behind the way pasta tastes in Korea can be said due to how the cuisine passed over. In this post she exams how some Western and Asian dishes transformed themselves as they made it into Korea.


2. Seoul Eats: It's possible to find the more fancy end of the pasta dish in Seoul. Here we are taken to the Tasting Room and shown a selection of yummy Italian fusion dishes.

3. Zen Kimchi: Perhaps heading out for pasta is not your thing, and you would rather make it at home. When you go to the supermarket you have choices of pre-made sauce you could buy. Here he found an odd Bulgolgi sauce and gave it a try.


It's fun trying new foods in Korea and can be even more exciting to try old favorites and have them taste fresh and new. What good Italian flavored places do you know to go to in Seoul?

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Abundance Works: Sports Day

With spring here now it is time to face the events calendar at your school. For those who work in public sector it is customary to have a Sports day during the spring or early summer. This is when the kiddos get out on the field and compete in various athletic events. In my experience of this here in Korea, I have seen games ranging from the strange to ridiculous. Usually schools start off the event with a warm up exercise to the tune of music. All right, today I will show you various accounts of bloggers encounters with Sports day in Korea.

1. The Harrington Times: What's fun is not just seeing the students participate but often parents will get involved. They usually compete for prizes, but these aren't fabulous things. Rather usually the prizes are household goods or in some cases bottles of soju. A good post with some nice pictures too, that show this day mostly allows kids to take it easy.


2. I'm No Picasso: As someone who has only stayed in the Elementary level of teaching I've often wondered what Sports Day is like at Middle or High school in Korea. Here we can get a glimpse of the fun these older kids get to have. Mostly looks like kids being kids and teacher getting to hang out with them.

4. The Seoul Patch: Back in 2009 Mr. Seoul Patch enjoyed Sports Day at his high school. His school had the typical fair of games but as basketball championships. Looks like a lot of fun.


5. A Search for Happiness: Most of the time you aren't really aware this event is going to take place until your coteacher comes to you and tells you. In this case it can ruin the fun because you aren't prepared to take in what is about to happen. In her case the day was really hot so it was a bit tough to enjoy. But I like this post as the Sports that happened were somewhat traditional.

Have you enjoyed Sports day at your school? Please, do share.

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Abundance Go's: Blossoming Korea

It's that time of the year where you stuff your sweaters into whatever closet space you have and refresh in the happiness of spring. For many this means getting out there and exploring their neighborhood or seeing new places in Korea. Today, I'll take you to bloggers who have enjoyed the sweet blossoming times of spring in Korea.

1. The Chosun Bimbo: More familiar for his technological posts, but you can find ones of the regular life in Korea. This post about the Yeouido festival exemplifies how sometimes the blossom festivals can be a little too overwhelming. He especially appreciated that the Red Cross was there, taking advantage of the crowds and giving folks lessons.


2. Dale's Korean Temple Adventures:  Out in the Gyeongsangnam-do is the Seounam Hermitage. A place with beautiful views of Korea and of course a great temple to look at and admire. Although, he arrived a bit early for the full force of spring, he did capture it a bit in parts. Check out the post for a very informative and explorative time.


3. Inhale. Exhale. Repeat: Out in Daejon you can catch something called the, "Snow Flower Festival." If anything I don't want it to snow in spring, but usually the cherry blossoms make it look as white as snow. The variety of flowers look great and also there appears to be some good eats nearby.


4. Evan and Rachel: A nice little photo-video here of spring in Korea, to help you get even more excited!



Personally, I can't wait for the cool air to be completely gone and the blossoms in full force. Heck, I even started to daydream about the sticky humid days of summer!