Amnok beach and Meeting our new family

안녕! 

Amnok beach is one of the many beaches here in Gangneung. The place is littered with coffee shops, including a Starbucks and Holly's Coffee. We woke extremely late after a successful night's sleep, so had a super late breakfast at a place called AM Bread and Coffee (에이엠브레드). They had some amazing buns on show, but of course, I had no idea what they were. One had the word 신나몬 which sounds phonetically like cinnamon. David chose that because he's a sucker for raisins and cinnamon. Ew. I chose the oddly coloured bun instead. 

The oddly coloured bun was filled with CHEESE! It was awesome. The bread was slightly salty with a cheesy goodness inside. 

We also had an iced coffee. David didn't wait for me to look at the menu, and just asked for iced coffee. It was rank. I like my coffee sweet, so loaded it with their sugar syrup. 

That evening, we went out to eat again. Since we're living in a hotel for a fortnight, it's the only option we have. Apart from eating instant noodles which made me feel queasy last time. 

We walked to Ponam il dong which is where our hagwon is. It took about 50 minutes from the hotel. Most sane people would get a taxi or cycle it, but we had a lot of time to kill and had no bike. 

Gangneung isn't short of restaurants. We basically picked a place which had 삼겹살 (samgyeopsal). Barbecue pork. 

The restaurant was one of those where you had to take your shoes off before going in, and there are no chairs. I'm pretty sure they live in the restaurant too.

The lady tried to speak to me in Korean. I get it a lot because well, you know why. I had to tell them "na hangul-mal mo-ta-yo" which is I don't speak Korean. I found the phrase on youtube, so I hope it's correct! She understood it anyway. She kept asking where I was from (I think that's what she was asking). I kept saying England, but she kept pointing to David when I said it, then pointed to me and said "you"? Eventually I had to say Chinese. To which she kept repeating ahhh "jung guk"...

Anyway, now to the food!

This is samgyeopsal. Fatty cuts of pork. Pork belly I think it is! Self cooked in front of you. With various side dishes. It's the one David and I usually go for back in the UK. 

Some sort of pickled green leaves. I love the stuff they pickle this in. It's my favourite side dish I think. 

Enokitake. Cooked on the grill until soft. I wouldn't even attempt these raw. 

More pickled greens. Kimchi greens maybe. 

Radish kimchi.

This one is similar to the first picture. Also really good! It's marinated in like a sweet pickle.

After dinner, we went to find a "hof" so a korean style bar. Just to sit in until we had to meet our new teaching family. 

It was pretty scary inside. Almost like the ones you get in Torry Aberdeen, full of old men drinking from 10am in the morning. There was a group of people in, but I think they owned the place. It was pretty dark and dingy inside.  

Then, we made it to Avalon, to meet our to be teaching family! It was fun. There was so much food! I wish I didn't eat before hand! There were different kinds of chicken drumsticks, hoe (raw fish - pronounced hweh), different kinds of octopus, radish...and soju! So much soju! 

Eating cake with chopsticks! Best way to eat cake in my opinion. 

A few of the nutters I'll be working with. You'll recognise the one in the blue. 

It was a fun night meeting them all. They're all crazy ^-^! I'm looking forward to starting my next journey with them.