On Saturday the 20th the orientation activity consisted of a photo scavenger hunt through Seoul. It was really fun to explore Seoul and the Yonsei campus, but there was one issue. It was pouring rain. Like, REALLY pouring. My umbrella kept my head and shoulders dry and that was about it. Our big group of 40 was divided into groups of five. It was really nice to spend some time in a smaller group of people and to have the opportunity to have some longer conversations. However, we weren't the best at the activity. We started with the items on the scavenger hunt list that were at Yonsei University and it was a huge mistake. There's a ton of construction happening at Yonsei currently, and it's already a giant campus, so we got worn out really early on and ended up giving up after we had a late lunch. Oh well!
Construction +
Rain = Lakes of Gravel
We found the
Korean Language Institute! And the rain let up a tiny bit.
Lunch at a
mall- Delicious mandu (dumplings), and donkatsu (pork cutlet)!
After lunch we tried some coffee bingsoo at Seoul Bing! Seoul Bing
is a Korean dessert cafe and bingsoo is a dessert made of shaved ice with
various toppings. Patbingsu is the traditional form which is shaved ice with
red beans. The coffee bingsoo that we all shared was shaved ice with coffee ice
cream on top, chocolate covered espresso beans, nuts and granola, chocolate
powder, and a hidden pocket of red beans under the ice cream! It also had
coffee and condensed milk that could be poured over the ice. It may sound odd,
but it's incredibly delicious. Especially at Seolbing- that's supposedly the
best place. Dessert heaven, and big enough to share with four other
people.
After the best dessert ever we had to head to our final
destination for the scavenger hunt, which was a theater where our whole program
group was watching Bibap. Bibap was a non-verbal musical based around cooking.
It featured fantastic beat boxing, dancing, and comedy. It was so different
from any show I've ever seen and everyone I talked to enjoyed it as much as I
did! The performers were really talented and high energy. It was also audience
interactive, with the various "chefs" dragging audience members onto
the stage at various points. Guess who got dragged up first before the show
even officially started? Yep, you guessed it! I did. "Green Chef"
pulled me onto the stage after he had combed through the audience asking people
where they were from and finding targets for later. He sat me down on a stool,
had me hold his microphone, and started singing to me while on one knee. He
pulled a napkin out of his shirt and twisted it into a flower and sprayed it
with red paint while he sang and presented it to me. I was just laughing, it
was pretty funny. Then "Red Chef" burst out onto the stage and
snatched the "flower" away and handed me a plastic flower (it was a
step up from a painted napkin) and HE started singing to me. Green Chef was
obviously pretty outraged by being upstaged. He started yelling
"WHY?" at me and I just shrugged and said "This flower is
prettier!" which got a laugh. ;) But then he snatched the flower away and
stomped offstage and thus their rivalry for the remainder of the show began. I
got to sit back down after that.
A group of us with
the cast.
Later for dinner we had chicken and beer- which is a really common
meal here. I just skip the beer and enjoy the chicken. They set these snacks on
the table at the place we went too and it tasted like cereal...and was highly
addictive.
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