SPOL Halloween Party

Simone, Dan and I in our costumes at school.

Last Friday was our Halloween party at school. The kids seemed to really love seeing people in costume because Halloween is not celebrated here. A few of the younger kids showed up as superheroes or princesses, but not too many kids had costumes. We had another Fun Mart, which is where students can buy toys and candy with Fun Dollars that they earn by being good in class. We also served popcorn and just played around with the kids all day. Dan had a very scary costume, and made no less than four children cry out of fear! I opted for a costume that was much less scary and much less work.

At school, my costume was "paper". As in the game Rock, Scissors, Paper! Which means that I lost that game ALL DAY once kids figured out I would always be paper. It took me about five minutes to finish it -- I crumpled up balls of paper and stapled them to my shirt and made a crown out of paper that we clipped in my hair. 

Scissors!

Emma and Chloe getting ready for the chaos.

Nice photo bomb, Dan.

The kids were pretty freaked out by Olivia's costume.

One of our youngest (and most adorable) classes.
A few of them dressed up!

Popcorn station.

Sunny!

Shabu Shabu

Korea has a plethora of amazing culinary delights, and one that I have heard about many times but never had was shabu-shabu. Luckily, I was able to gather a few friends and partake in a delicious meal.

Shabu-shabu is a Japanese dish, which is essentially a hot pot with thinly-sliced beef. The dish has gained this moniker because of the sound made when the ingredients are stirred in the pot.

Paige posing with the shabu-shabu spread.

A pot of kimchi, noodles, and small
mondu (a steamed meat dumpling)
to throw into the pot.

You can order either beef or seafood for this dish, and we opted for beef. The servers bring out this massive pot filled with broth, a plate of rolled, thinly-sliced beef, vegetables, rice, noodles, and a few small side dishes like kimchi (of course!). The pot is set above a flame, where it is heated to boiling. Then someone at the table cuts the vegetables (with the scissors that is on the table at every Korean meal), going vertically up the platter so they get a bit of everything. We let those cook for a a little bit, then threw in some of the beef. It was so thinly sliced that it cooked almost instantly! After that, we were set to start eating. As we ate the soup, a server would come over with a giant pot filled with broth and add a bit more.

The platter of vegetables to throw in -- tons of mushrooms!

Cutting the vegetables into the soup.

Delicious and boiling hot.

At the end, the leftover broth is mixed with a rice/egg/vegetable mixture in the picture below to make congee, or rice porridge. It tasted like fried rice -- nothing spectacular, but a nice thing to end the meal with.

Congee.

I'm leaving Korea in a month, and already the question "What will you miss the most?" has been cropping up. Without any doubt, I can say that I will miss the food -- not just the taste, but the way in which meals are constructed. Having dinner at a restaurant in Korea is a group activity. The grill is in the middle of the table, so the group is responsible for grilling and cutting the meat, beer and soju distribution, and the many side dishes are shared by everyone. It's almost impossible to not feel a bit closer to your dinner companions after a Korean dinner, and I will miss this instant comradery.

Batu Caves (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

This past week, I went on vacation to Malaysia. One of the first places that I went to see were the spiritual Batu Caves. There are three main caves which were formed in a limestone hill, and the site houses several Hindu temples. I saw some astounding statues, viewed people being blessed by swamis, watched monkeys steal from other tourists, and ate some free, delicious Indian food with my hands.

A 50-foot statue of the monkey god Hanuman.

One of the many temples on the site.

People getting blessed by swamis.

There were monkeys playing everywhere.
This is probably the first time I have ever encountered a wild monkey.

This is the entrance to the main cave on site, Cathedral Cave. It is so named because there are several shrines underneath its high, vaulted ceiling. There are 272 steep steps before you reach the top, but the climb is well worth it. The view from the top (or even the middle) is amazing, and the caves were stunning. 

The iconic golden statue is of Lord Murugan, the Hindu god of war and victory. It is almost 100 meters tall, and it was an extremely impressive sight to behold.

 

View from halfway up the 272 steps.

Monkey!

Some delicious Indian food.

This group was gathered around two swamis that were chanting Hindu prayers. With its high, vaulted ceiling, the prayers filled the entire cave, lending the entire scene a spiritual feeling.

 

A very small monkey, holding a Coke can for comparison.