Seafood Fun

Down the road, is a place called Daephoang Port. This is the premier seafood eating destination on the east coast of Korea. Thousands of people come here from all over Korea to stuff their faces with the bounty of the sea.

The port itslef, well it is a port, but not like the stereotypical port that you see in picutres. Instead it is a lagoon gaurded by a breakwater on the edge of the sea with all manner of small fishing boats pulled up to a long narrow street, fronted by tents on the sea side and more substantial resteraunts on the land side. Mostly people dine alfresco, outside, huddled around coal fires and sitting on little plastic chairs, protected from the elements by beach umbrellas. The ambiance is great, people yelling, watching the show, the smells of both cooking and raw fish everywhere, all the old women hustling to get the next customer to come and eat.

1. Clam barbeque the clams, and other seafood are placed on a small grill over a coal fire, when they are done, the shells pop open, a little half of a shell to put hot suace in on the side and away you go!
The oginio (squid) to the left have been stuffed with sausege, onions, carrots, rice, and green onions, then they are lightly fried in an egg batter and cut into rings, called the dish is called sundae.

2. You can pick your fish, alive, out of a tank andwatch it killed right in front of you, it goes from life to the plate in about three minutes.

3. These are kimchi pots that have just been cleaned. In the fall (I took these pictures in late August) the fermented cabbage dish is prepared and put into the pots which are then buried before the ground gets to hard. Most people have special kimchi fridges now to hold their kimchi but the old folks still do things the traditional way, thank god!

4. More fish ready for the table, a few of these have already passed the experiation date. Note to travellers, live fish, and eating it raw, costs much, much more than cooked fish.

5. A live squid, about to be, well, munched on

More Photos

So I literally have taken a thousand pictures since I have been here in Sokcho, my computer is jammed with them! Going through them tonight, preparing to put them in disk, I thought that I would post a few of my favorites that I have not put on my blog as yet.

1-4 I have a twenty minute break for supper around six every night and sometimes I go up on the roof to look around at the city. I took these pictures during such a break, just happened to have thrown my camera into my bag before school that day and took these pics over the twenty minutes of break time. They show mountians beyond my school as the sun is going down.

5. Still on the roof but this is the view twoards the sea. I have talked about the bridge to nowhere before. This is the huge, mamouth bridge that goes over a lagoon and deadends in the ocean not a quarter of a mile away, it is just visible in the distance, see it, the big orange thing? Hard to miss!

some school pics

Just a few random pictures of school taken at various times

1. My basic diary class, my oldest students, aged fourteen and fifteen
2. My soju buddy Matthew a few days before he left in the teachers room
3. Little shytes stole my camera!
4. My TOIEC class, basic reading and vocabulary, ages twelve to thirteen
5. My favorite student, In-ho. In-ho is very quiet and I think he has some problems at home, maybe he acts out a little, reminds me of me, but man is he smart. Makes his own crosswords in english in his spare time

Today

Today............

11.28.06



The last few days have been filled with a never ending rain. Not just a lite drizzle but a constant, steady downpour with wind, fog, everything. For the last few days even the bases of the mountains, just a few miles away from my apartment, have been obscured by fog the consistancy of clouds that have fallen from the peaks and settled into the valleyes that surrond the town.

When I went to work today the rain had almost stopped but their was no sun, no blue sky, just a steel grey covering the town, the mountains, the sea.

So the day went and dragged, one class, two, three, then four, and finally, after the fourth, a break. It was time for me to run downstairs and catch the bus to go to the other branch. As I put on my coat and backpack I was so happy to finally be getting away from the students, even if it was only for a moment, and go outside into the moist air.

As I went through the door of my school and turned left to go down the three flights of stairs to the street I happened to look up and through the huge picture window that brings light into the halls of the building and I stopped short, stunned by what I saw.

There, in front of me, was the gift that all the rain, wind, and gloom in Sokcho had given us. Just behind my school, framed by apartment blocks, is Chundae-san mountain. Its not really a mountain, just a big hill, about 800 meters, but it is big, and there, from the crown almost to its base, was pretty, fluffy, white snow.

The entire mountian, almost down to the bottom was covered with it. This brilliant white carpet with the black shafts of trees sticking through the snow cover was like a white mat, covering the slopes of the hill.