So let't kick it off with some kimchi--after all, this is Korea.
May I present to you the gates of the 2011 International Kimchi Festival in Gwangju, South Korea. Yes, Korea's favorite national side dish has its own celebratory weekend. And it was a blast from front to back.
Normally, you'd see kimchi on a plate or as a side dish at any given restaurant--but sometimes I forget that that little plate of cabbage, onion, and red pepper sauce probably comes from a much larger collection of cabbage, onion, and red pepper paste. In this case, it came from a batch that probably weighed more than me. This is, by far, the largest pot of kimchi I've ever laid eyes on. And I wanted to eat THE WHOLE THING. Spoiler alert: I did get to make some of my own.
Erik Gray, handsome Canadian man in the flesh, getting interviewed by several middle school students whose project was to find foreigners and talk to them about kimchi. They love this dude.
...And we posed for a picture.
As far as what is ultimately going on in this picture goes...your guess is as good as mine. We have our dancing chefs who performed lots of cool knife dances and tricks, and there were constantly people dressed as giant heads of cabbage (the main ingredient in kimchi) running across the stage, chasing said chefs. Who knows.
This is kimchi jeong, or, a kimchi pancake, more or less. All the usual vegetable ingredients like green onions and fermented cabbage, but with some egg and flour and various baking materials--just like a pancake, you wait for things to crisp on one side, flip, and enjoy.
Caught up with some fellow foreigners from our August orientation who had just finished making some kimchi of their own. From left to right: Sara (representing Minnesota!), Anna (Kansas City), Caitlin (Montana), and Rachel (North Carolina).
Diana, Aaron and me decided we had to make some of our own. For roughly $5 each, we were given a head of cabbage, some onions, and plenty of red pepper sauce to mix and make our very own kimchi. We were jazzed.
Not sure why we're so intrigued by our hands. Game on.
One of my favorite pictures from Korea, actually. I kept telling everyone there, from my foreigner friends to some of the helpful English-speaking volunteers, that this is one of those "before-I-came-to-Korea-I-could-picture-myself-doing-things-exactly-like-this" moments. Seriously, if I had to compose some album consisting of moments I thought I'd genuinely get to experience the right way in Korea, this photo would belong somewhere in that collection.
Unfortunately, I apparently suck at making kimchi. The older lady on the left was constantly hovering over my shoulder, telling me "hajima! hajima!" meaning "stop," more or less. She taught me how to correctly "massage" the kimchi, as translated by my beautiful and helpful Korean friend on the right, Jia Kim. After some practice, my cabbage massaging skills had markedly improved.
Hard at work. Total concentration.
So happy to take home some kimchi of my own. For as much as I eat it at school and restaurants 1-2 times a day, I hadn't pictured a time when my own fridge might be stocked with kimchi. That day had come.
Everywhere at this festival, there were organizers looking for great photo-ops and making sure that every photo and experience for every foreigner was picture-perfect (no pun intended). We were asked countless times to hold a pose eating kimchi, making kimchi, learning about kimchi, flipping kimchi pancakes, etc. for photographers who were totally intent on showing that the Kimchi Festival was a touristy hot spot. They told me to add a little note to the giant tree of kimchi blessings, or something like that.
Lots of live music as evening draws near. Some older women in traditional dress singing traditional songs, as well as high school dancers and plenty of K-Pop.
Kimchi Street, the main drag of the festival. One thing that we really thought was cool was that, much like our experience hiking Mudeungsan and other really traditionally popular Korean activities, everyone seemed very happy and proud that we, as foreigners, were taking in their culture. Even if that act is as simple as massaging cabbage for around 15 minutes.
True to form, there always seem to be beautiful flowers associated with just about every nice occasion in Korean culture.
And this closing picture is just a feel good one, you might say. How much fun is this little dude having with Erik Teacher? We stopped for about half an hour at the festival to play with some kids, and they LOVE being pushed on swings again, and again, and again, and again, and again...
The Kimchi Festival was an absolute blast--surprisingly, lots of things to do and see despite the subject matter being a simple Korean food. Highly recommended. Next up will be some pictures from the giant foreigner Halloween party in Mokpo. Thanks for reading, and check back often, as I tend to have more and more time to update this and will make a mad dash to do so by the time I go on vacation later this month. Happiest of New Year's days to you and yours from South Korea. As always, thanks for reading. Lots of love, and all the best,
Sam
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