Day #1 in Korea complete, spicy foods, and jet lag.

I've completed my first day here in Korea.  I'm staying at my uncle's place with my mom in Bundang (I'm not sure I'm spelling it right...I tried to find it on Google Maps but everything is in Korean and I don't even have the patience for my elementary Korean skills right now).  It's 5:15am, I'm starving, and I can't go back to sleep.  This 14 hours ahead thing is messing with me and I can't get over that I lost a day going over the date line.  Weird.

Pierce Brosnan welcomed me at the Inchon Airport.

I've had mixed feelings about blogging about this trip since I know you guys don't want to hear about every detail about my trip...but I have surprisingly received a number of chats, texts and emails asking me about ole K-town (there IS Internet access here!). So here we are.  So I'm going to try and keep it short and funny:

-  So far everything here is really spicy.  The cognitive dissonance driving my inability to accept that my insides rebel against spicy food continues.  That's as much detail as I can go into without grossing everyone out.  Or did I just do that?

-  Whisky and fresh steamed octopus with Korean red pepper sauce is a great pairing.  I ate this on the floor with my legs criss crossed.  With chopsticks.

-  I'm a chopsticks wuss. I've had to request wooden chopsticks at every meal since the metal dowels most Koreans use are too heavy for my weak Western hands.

-  I have yet to taste anything that rivals my mother's cooking.  So...she legit IS a phenomenal cook.

-  There is no beef or chicken stock at the grocery store (Kim's Club..not at all like Price Club).  But there is Arizona Iced Tea.  The import sections needs to get their priorities straight. 

-  There is a huge career in sales for anyone incredibly loud and aggressive.  I was practically acosted in the meat department and threatened into buying their pork belly (which, if you know me, know that there should be no coaxing involved).  It made me think....in America sometimes I feel a bit invisible, like sales people may not help me because they are not sure if I speak English or not  (I have once or twice been approached by people in the states speaking s l o w, LOUD English...in case I didn't understand).  Here, I look like everyone else.  So I'm fair game.

-  I have yet to see a single dog.  I couldn't resist snapping this.  This has actually been the butt of many jokes between my uncle and myself.

-  Below is a picture of the ladies (my mom, her sister, and my uncle's wife) preparing some traditional Chinese New Year dishes (zuccini, oysters, and fish fried in an egg batter).  I helped!

Today we will be celebrating the Chinese New Year...more to come!

Miss you Michael, terribly.