I've Got News!

Well, the contract has been signed, and the countersigned contract has been returned, my SMOE school has been informed, my airplane ticket has been bought (for way too much won), so it's now pretty much official, Tuttle will be returning to good ol' Georgia in early August to take a full-time position as a science teacher at a stable Atlanta-area independent school for 2023-24, and hopefully some years thereafter.

While I was on vacation in Thailand (I might end up making a couple of posts later on this) I decided to test the waters since I was reaching the retirement age here in Korea. Frankly, 62 is a ridiculously young age to put a quality teacher out to pasture--I personally have a good ten years left in me! Especially now I've got new lenses after cataract surgery in 2017, a new shoulder following my terrible accident, and a brain MRI that demonstrated I am in "perfect" brain health a few months ago.

So I updated my resume, worked up a solid cover letter, and sent it out to schools looking for such as me identified on the GISA website. To be honest, I am highly qualified, quite energetic, and a pretty good candidate for MS/HS science teaching jobs. Due to age, I didn't have high expectations--I was mainly just testing the format--but got a fair amount of interest, and eventually the job offer.

I know I don't post much these days, which I explain honestly by pointing out that not much newsworthy has been going on--heck, my last post was really just the same post I've made a dozen times with photos of the Yeouido cherry blossoms. Well, to be fair, they are blogworthy no matter how many times you've seen them!

Anyway.

I think this is blogworthy, fer shure!

This blog was inaugurated on the acceptance of a position teaching English in Korea, after umpteen years teaching science and math in my home state of Georgia, and so should probably end on leaving Korea to teach science and math in Goergia. But before that, I want to be sure to memorialize, or blogorize, some of my final, special times here--two and a half months transpired from contract to arrival in Korea, and it's just about the same timeframe before I begin my new job.

So therefore, I hope to at least capture some of my last weeks here before moving on to the next stage in my life--and letting my Patch of Seoul grow on its own.

2023 Yeouido Cherry Blossom Festival

After years of Covid closures, the Cherry Blossom Festival finally returned to Junjungno, the street that circles around the top end of Yeouido at the Korean government's legislative center.

Of course, the flowers return every year, but this is the first time the crowds of people have returned to view them since 2019! You can see there lots and lots of folks, possibly more than I expected on a Sunday morning before the Festival officially opened on Monday.


The pic above shows that the festival is not just about the cherries (a gift to Korea from the Japanese governemnt from around the same time as they gifted the ones found in Washington, DC's tidal basin to the US), but is actualy the "spring flower" festival, what with the 개나리 kenari, aka golden bell, a member of the forsythia family. Below, a gorgeous tulip in one of the roadside planters, followed by two little fellows posing for photo ops!

A Saturday in Seoul

Having bought a (used) iPad, part of my needs for upcoming vacation in Thailand, I also needed a charger or power bank, whatever you call it, so I headed on Saturday to Sindorim TechnoMart--which I previously mentioned here and here. Found what I needed, a Templer "Metal Battery" with 10,000 mAh; also got a new screen cover and a case that also holds the iPen. Then headed down to the Food Court for lunch:


You go around all the stalls until you decide what you're looking for--Soup Village for me, on this chilly Saturday. That's 육개장 (yook gae jang) spicy beef soup. Rice in the covered bowl, black beans, pickled turnip, egg custard, sprouts, stewed veg, tiny bottle of drinking yoghurt, and a mini-chocolate bar. 8,000W (~USD 6.50).
The beans seem to me similar to the little wooden toys you might find at Cracker Barrel or Po Boys: you play the how-many-beans-can-I-get-on-the-chopsticks game until the soup temperature cools from center-of-the-sun to molten lava. But it's delicious.

Saturday evening, I joined a group of friends for "S@R", Seoul at Random, where a subway station is chosen at random and we congregate for dinner and drinks. Yesterday's station was Yeongeungpo on Line 1.
We gave a pass to Jurassic Chicken, as we prefer our meat fresh, and opted for beef Korean BBQ style. Awesome!


As we left, there was a traditional street cart selling a hard Korean candy called 엿 (yeot). "Hard" is an understatement; I have pretty good teeth, but I don't eat it for fear of chipping one! But I am glad to see they are still plying the trade in the middle of a rather upscale eating street in 2022!

Halloween in Seoul 2022

When I came to Korea, Lo! these many years ago, Halloween was a phenomenon seen only in Itaewon, the "foreigner district". Times change, so does Korea. Here are two shots I took in my west-of-the-river neighborhood:


It was difficult to find Halloween decorations, etc, in stores. Not now!


Yes, that's Halloween-themed hot dogs, at my local HomePlus.

My CoT took it on herself to decorate the classroom, using stuff I had collected over the years, plus the amazing spiderweb she made herself!


Happy Halloween!

New Shopping Phenomenon in Seoul

There is a new way to do your grocery shopping in Korea, and it is self-service. No, I don't mean self-service check-out!


The whole shop is unmanned! Pick up your basket, select your items, then do the self-service check-out too!


Obviously, lower manpower keeps prices down, but while there are lots of national and international brands--Tabasco sauce half what it costs in Emart--there are also off-brands, and off tastes. The cheesy linguini microwave dinner was just fine. Yet, the cheapo quesedillas I got were actually cheapo! On the other hand, 7,500 W for a kilo of frozen mango slices, you can't go wrong!

I got a box of pork ribs for 9,900 W and tried them a couple of days ago--and they were awesome! I'm not saying the best thing I've ever eaten, but for real Western-style ribs at about eight bucks, they can't be beat!


Went back today and got more, for my it's almost Chuseok dinner. Cooked 'em up in my toaster oven. Look pretty good, right?

YouTube Quiz

As a long-time trivia fan--including a pub trivia host for a time, back in the day--this trivia YT channel I've been following recently is holding a submission contest (random drawing style)m so I thought I'd send in a submission. Here it is. Let me know how you did.

Fall Colors

The weather was fine when leaving work today, which you can see in the blue sky. As I noticed the weather, I also noticed the fall colors, and pulled out my iPhone for a few shots. First up is the walkway headed to the front gate; the next two are on the sidewalk in front of the school, and the final shot is looking across Airport Highway with the centerlane busstop.



The bright yellow are ginkos, the others are mostly maple and maybe sycamore.

Star Time Mandu

A new mandu pocha--not really restaurant, not actually a covered wagon--opened in my neighborhood about a month ago, and I finally passed by at a time I was hungry and headed home.



For those unfamiliar, 만두 mandu are Korean stuffed dumplings, steamed usually, but sometimes fried. They come stuffed with a huge variety of ingredients, as you can see from the store sign: beef, pork, squid, fish paste, kimchi, potato salad, vegetables, spicy vegetables, noodles, etc, etc.



The name means "Star Time" or similar, and that's a cute little mandu offering to cook himself for you. I posted on this topic, suicide food, yonks ago, here and here.)

I had one order of galbi mandu, rib meat, and one of large shrimp, both quite tasty, as always served with soy sauce and radish kimchi. Remember to pull the tail bit off the shrimp!

Dinner in Dangsan

Had dinner with pal Adam by Dangsan station, junction of lines 2 and 9 that I traverse pretty regularly. As you can see above, the air quality was, um, good, and 0-차​ at the CU was immediately outside exit 4.
The 'four for man won (10,000 W)' has somehow spurred on a myriad of smaller Korean breweries, and gotten the chaebol into the game.


Here's the excellent spot we selected for dinner, between exits 2 and 3, which serves both pork and beef.


I've posted a couple hundred pictures of Korean BBQ, but I just love the thick samgyupsal, which gets crispy on the outside but stays juicy inside. And check out the panchan, egg custard out-of-shot:


Here's the 'Wall of Fame' of celebrity diners, and the outside ashtray, helpfully located just beneath the 'No Smoking' sign:


And finally a shot of the amazingly well-marbled, melt-in-your-mouth 꽃살 kkotsal, "flower meat", which was a bit pricy at 18,000 W per serving, one serving shown.

My Street Market

Some random pictures of my local street market, just a couple blocks straight out exit #6 Deungchon Sta. on line 9. Fruit and veg, of course, and seafood, lots of seafood:


The shrimp kept jumping out of the box:


What got me taking pictures was this machine, which I've never seen before, extruding some kind of sesame seed snack:


Lots of other snack choices, and foods:


Coffee shops are everywhere in Seoul nowadays.
Of course, you can buy just about anything in the street. I have bought several plants from the flower shop over the years:


Finally, empty stalls, a sad sign of these Covid times: