Convenience Store Raid Series: The Great Popsicle Taste Test

In our ongoing attempt to pretend that summer isn't over, Shane and I descended upon the freezer case of the Samsung Big Mart downstairs. We set out to taste our way through the popsicle freezer case. Yes, there is a freezer case devoted almost entirely to individually sold popsicles (and also a case for ice cream). Here are the fascinating results:                                                                                   

Popsicle One:  Ppongtta (??) Soda Flavor
Flavor: A cross of cotton candy and Dreamsicle
Impression & Comments: It's a bit awkward to eat out of the plastic, which is shaped almost like a baby bottle, but that awkward plastic also made for no side drippage.
The Verdict: Shane would eat another right now if he had one. Awesome and creamy!




Popsicle Two: Saengtaeng Citrus
Flavor: Chunks of Jeju tangerine right in it. The bar tasted like frozen juice, very vibrant flavor and color.
Impression & Comments: The wide base made it hard to finish off at the end without messing myself. But it's only 65 calories!
The Verdict: I feel like I've missed out for the past year since it's taken me this long to taste the happy.


Popsicle Three: Encho 
(Encho is short for enriched chocolate bar)

Flavor: Crunchy outer milk chocolate shell w/ almond pieces, vanilla ice milk under the shell

Impression & Comments: There's a chocolate bar inside my ice cream!

The Verdict: I totaallly crushed it! Even with the ice milk in the middle, it's still a totally legit popsicle!


Popsicle Four: Haessihossi
(I can't translate this, I have no idea)

Flavor: Walnut. Tastes like butter pecan ice cream with some bitable sunflower seeds in it.

Impression & Comments: Holy camoly, this is so good! 
The Verdict: This popsicle brought out the expletives in Shane, in a good way.

Popsicle Five: Watermelon King Bar

Flavor: Watermelon

Impression & Comments: It's not great. The chocolate-covered sunflower seeds taste old, and the popsicle tastes candy-like with a syrupy flavor. The look of it is the best part.

The Verdict: I've have had better watermelon popsicles before, so I should have opted for the other brand. Not worth finishing.



Popsicle Six: Babambar Gold                                 
Flavor: Pieces of chestnut on it, which was nice, but not a lot of flavor to this guy

Impression & Comments: ... a surprise in the middle.... it's like a white sweet bean paste.....ugh disappointment....

The Verdict: Shane just wanted to eat the outside and leave the white bean alone.

Popsicle Seven: Megaton (?? my translating skills stink)

Flavor: Caramel awesomeness

Impression & Comments: It has a good burnt sugar flavor and smell. This bar has a nice and creamy meltiness without making a mess

The Verdict: It's just so good. The caramel bar is one of my go to favorites when I need something sweet. Shane says, "Mmmm, yeah."


Popsicle Eight: Saengtaeng Pine Bar

Flavor: Pineapple 

Impression & Comments: Like the tangerine bar, it's very fresh, with little pieces of real fruit. It is super flavorful, and super awesome.               
The Verdict: Yes and yes. Maybe it's possible to melt it to make a cocktail....

Popsicle Nine: Chanys                                       
Flavor: Fruit punch

Impression & Comments: It looks like a bomb pop, but doesn't have a super strong flavor. It's even a bit watery. The small white ribbon on the bottom and the layer under the pink part tastes like a cream soda Dum Dum.            The Verdict: Solid but unspectacular. Not something crave-able, but it'll do in a pinch. 

Sitting on Songjeong

In the spirit of summer (or rather, the recent end thereof), I thought I would share one of my favorite discoveries from this too quickly gone by summer season: Songjeong Beach, tucked up on Busan's eastern coast in the Haeundae area. Remember how I barely updated at all this summer? Yeah, I was here.
                                                                                                         
Fun Fact: The sand on the beach is soft and fine, unlike the sticky, coarse sand at Gwangalli and Haeundae, Busan's two more famous and more accessible beaches. When you go to Gwangalli or Haeundae, you better be prepared to spend the rest of the day with tiny shell chips and and sand stuck to your legs, clinging to your skin for dear life. Unlike those two, Songjeong's sand isn't trucked in. This is the real deal (read: it's not a man-made beach). It feels nice under your bare feet. And it falls right off your legs easily when it's time to go home. 
                                                                                                         
Fun Fact: Unless you have your own vehicle, you're going to spend a bit of money on a taxi or time on the bus, depending on your starting point. The closest the subway gets is the last few stops on the green line. No fear, your travel efforts will be handsomely rewarded. Because Songjeong isn't completely overrun with tourists, the scene is much less developed than those other aforementioned beaches. For example, you can find like three or four chain coffee shops instead of twenty. Your food options are more limited to Korean restaurants, toast stands, or the couple of convenience stores. Songjeong is Busan's "family beach." 
                                                                            

Fun Fact: If you go on a crowded day, and are searching for a precious front-row parasol (because why in the world would you want someone blocking your view of the water), go ahead and keep on looking in the crowded area. There were large sections at Songjeong that looked to us like they had plenty of room for us to nestle in. We lacked the proper military credentials, though, that would have allowed us to park it in that special section.

Fun Fact: The water is more blue here than anywhere else we've seen in Busan so far, except Igidae. The teal water and the mountains made for some rad scenery. Plus, there's a banana boat that you can zip around on AND you can camp here. Awesome.
                                                 
Fun Fact: Diga loves the sand, hates the water. Shane mostly loves the water. It's pretty shallow here, but if you go far enough, you can actually swim. Don't get too close to the buoy, or those jet-ski lifeguards are coming your way.                                       
One perfect day, splashing around, he was asked by a gaggle of pretty university girls why he wasn't at Haeundae, where the "girls wear bikinis". He also may have appeared on a TV show, but we will never know. Yes, a random man sat down next to him, egging him on to.... something.... while another filmed it all on a film-making camera. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! Oh, put down the beer, do it again. Can't have alcohol in the shot. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! Something something something in Hangul. One more time. "Fighting!" the man prompted! "Fighting!" Shane repeated! They weren't interested in my ability to yell "Fighting!". I stand awkwardly out of camera range. These things happen to Shane.

I can only hope that 2011's warm weather stretches long into October like last year. Beach season may be over for everyone else, but for me, Songjeong is still waiting.

A Year In, A World Away, The Great Adventure Continues....

One year ago today, Shane and I stood, electrified yet somber, optimistic yet intimidated, in the international terminal of O'Hare in Chicago. We'd said our lachrymose farewells to our families and most of our possessions were packed away in storage. We arrived.                                                                                      
And here we are today, living a damn good life. 
                                                                                                              
It's been the most challenging, most rewarding year we've ever had, both in our relationship to each other and in terms of our individual personal growth. 
                                                                                                               
Articulating my feelings now is difficult. A whole year. Here. It's like I'm homesick, sure, but not exactly only that. My idea of home has become confused and jumbled. Here, Yeonje-gu, Busan, Korea is decidedly not home, but what will my home be like? Where will I return to? 
                                                                                                            
Then again, I'm not really concerned about that right now, home is home and will always be. I will be there only six months from now.
                                                                                                           
What really has triggered this chain of thought is that now that we've been here a full year, we've been saying a lot of goodbyes once again. By the end of September, most of the friends we've here (apart from our wonderful co-worker friends) will be returned home, or off on their next great adventure. Goodbyes, but this time with us staying put. It's tough, but inevitable. 
                                                                                                             
That all sounds incredibly despondent, but it's not and we're not. 
                                                                                                                
In truth, my lack of dedication to Soju Cocktail can all be explained away by a summer well-spent. A few intensive projects have fallen on both mine and Shane's laps, and we took a fabulous week-long vacation to the Land of the Rising Sun. I took some time to polish up this article, and we're having a lot of fun with Diga. And beach time. We just can't resist the Sirens' song of Busan's beaches. We're soaking up every minute we can of that. 
                                                                                                                 
A lot remains to explore, to understand, to try to explain with my feeble words.                                                                                               
Thanks for hanging out, Readers. Peace from us to you.

Sister Visits Busan

Note: This guest post was written by my sister, Crystal, who visited Busan with her husband, Nick, back in March 2011. We thank her for her contribution to Soju Cocktail and for visiting way over here.

A lot has changed since we left Busan on March 14th; we found out that we are having a second baby, we traveled to Arkansas for yet another music festival and we traded our responsible family station wagon in for a “ridiculous” VW bus in which to create family memories. 

But one thing that hasn’t changed since then is how much I loved getting the invitation and opportunity to travel across the world to visit Rose & Shane. Visiting South Korea is something Nick and I would have never done if it weren’t for family being there. I’m super glad that they decided to become temporary residents in what Rose calls “The Land of Contrasts” so that we were able to enjoy all that Busan has to offer.

The contrasts Rose was talking about were instantly apparent. One of the most memorable was the obvious division between the generations of women, the younger generation obsessed with perfecting their faces while the older generation was obsessed with gutting their fish. I never encountered a young lady who didn’t have her eyeliner on to go hiking, and I rarely laid eyes on an older woman who could stand straight after squatting over a pail of fishy entrails. It wasn’t just the people that showed these contrasts, but the scene itself. The bustling city streets set itself against peaceful mountain paths in a way that kept making you forget that the other even existed. Then there were the modern technological advances surrounded by the remnants of past wars; people were taking pictures of rusted barbed wire fences with what looked like a smaller, better Ipad. It was magnificent. And it was fun.

The first night we arrived, Rose & Shane took us to a Korean BBQ. As I will most likely say about almost everything we did while in Busan, the Korean BBQ was definitely one of my favorites. The family-sized portion of meat comes to you raw and then you cook it yourself on a hot skillet or grill set in the middle of the table. When done to your liking, you wrap it in lettuce or sesame leaves and choose your other assorted toppings, like roasted garlic, kimchi, or a spicy sauce. You eat the little wrap with a nice, light, watery beer named Cass or with Soju. I liked the BBQ so much, I requested to go back at least three more times during our visit. 

The next two days were spent at temples. The first temple we visited, Beomeosa, is the temple all the traveler’s websites tell you to go to. Although impressive and large, it was nothing compared to the temple we visited next, Hae Dong Yong Gung. Hae Dong Yong Gung is set atop a rocky shoreline of the Sea of Japan. It has many multi-sized Buddhas, fresh spring water to drink, beautiful temples and scores of worshipers. It was a place to be at peace.

It was not quite so peaceful when we made the trek back in the city. We visited the busy markets in the streets and sampled different street foods. Every street was packed with hungry people looking to buy and sell goods and services.  Although they all looked exactly the same in my eyes, Shane was able to bring us to one 3x5 table that was making these crazy pancake type dishes, filled with chives and who knows what else. I will have to say, whatever they put in there, it was delish.  

One of the great things about Busan is that even though it’s a busy city, it only takes the short walk of a block to get back to peace. The city is on the shoreline, so we were able to spend some time on the beaches as well. Even when in a winter jacket, a beach is relaxing. Watching the water come in, writing messages in the sand, taking pictures with your friends to put on your next record cover, life is good when you’re on the beach.

Did I mention this was all just in the first 2 days?

Going to Gyeongju

Tumuli. Tumuli. Tumuli. It's fun to say. They're also fun to look at, these giant round mounds popping up around the city of Gyeongju (경주시). The tumuli are actually tombs of the Shilla kings and rulers of ancient Korea. One, called Cheongmachong (천마총), or the Heavenly Horse Tomb, is opened for sightseers to go inside. It's dark and cool, and a little disconcerting when I see that I'm inside a pile of rocks about fifteen feet deep that is covered with dirt ten feet deep. Also, you're standing inside someone's grave.

                                                                                                            
In the tomb, we marvel at artifacts like an uncomfortable-looking wooden saddle and a fragile gold headdress. Shane, Mom, Britt, and myself wander through the rest of Tumuli Park, grateful for the cloud cover that are keeping us cool. It's so nice to be surrounded by fresh air and green. 

The path through Tumuli Park leads us through a stretch of gnarly knotty trees. Because of the rain that has just passed through, the park is nearly empty and very still. Smells fresh and mossy and I feel like I'm in a children's storybook. We walk on.

After a bit, we reach a place I recognize from my student's textbooks. I'm standing in front of Cheomseongdae (첨성대), the oldest astronomical observatory in East Asia. Seeing this landmark now in person is so anti-climatic that I have a hard time believing it's actually a big tourist site. It looks like a pudgy chimney. I'm the only one in our group who takes a picture. 

                                                                                             
Unimpressive landmarks aside, the open, wide expanses of Gyeonju's historical section are serene and calm and beautiful and impress me much more. 

                                                                                                          
We had come here with the intention of seeing a piece of Korea outside of Busan's confines. As much as my mother and sister enjoyed the city, we all  needed respite from the hot urban summer. So we jumped on the KTX, the high-speed train that connects Korea end to end, and an hour later we were at this UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

From Cheomseongdae, we sojourn across a field toward another wooded area, which a sign informs us is Gyerim Forest (계림). The post goes on to explain that this is the place where a gold box was found hanging from a tree, with a rooster crowing underneath it, and in that box was a boy who's heirs would later rule the Silla dynasty. Britt and I are eyed up by two ajumnas while Mom and Shane try to take pictures of a cool blackbird.

                                                                                                       
Later, after walking through the rapeseed field, past the red and white hollyhocks, under the gourd and zucchini vine-covered tunnel, and after taking turns sticking our faces through a painted board that made it look like we were the Shilla princess in a pink hanbok riding a white horse sidesaddle, we make it to Anapaji Pond (안압지). 
                                                                                                          
I've never seen so many or such huge water lilies. The leaves are larger than my head. By the time we finish walking up and down the pathways, we're tired and ready to head toward the bus station.
  

To get there, we have to walk down Hangover Soup Street. Hangover soup (haejangguk or 해장국) is a traditional stew made from ox or beef bone broth, soybean paste, sprouts, radish, green onions, and sometimes ox blood. Today, each of the hangover soup restaurants is nearly identical, and each is empty, save the proprietors swatting flies away from giant silver pots. I guess that by 3:00 in the afternoon, the hangovers are done for the day. 

Baseball Top Ten: How Busan Does America's Game

Our first adventure to Sajik Stadium was just that, an adventure. The songs, the food, the cheers, and the pageantry were all on display. Here's my top ten list of things that make Korean professional baseball (Busan Lotte Giants specifically) great.

                                                                         10. My students' Dads play for

the team - No joke here at all. Two of my students have dads that play for the Giants. I don't think it's right to say who they are, but one of them starts in the field and the other is a relief pitcher. It's really cool to hear about. Every once in a while they'll come in to class super excited and tell me, "My father struck out two batters!" or "My father hit a home run!" It's pretty freakin' awesome, to tell the truth.

                                                                        9. Foul balls go to kids under 8. This is a strict rule. Any time a foul ball goes into the stand, everyone chants at whomever caught the ball to give it to a child, specifically one under eight years old. A student of mine, Harry, once told me how he got a foul ball at the game. Harry is 11, and he was too old for the crowd. He said he wanted to keep it, but was forced by the crowd to give it to a younger spectator a row ahead of him.

                                                                                                                             8. Scantily clad bat-girls - Back in America, the role of bat boy is usually filled by a player's son. Here, bat girls add to the entertainment of the entire evening,  at least for the first viewing of a Korean baseball game.

                                                                                                                             7. There are many a song to be sung -

The lyrics are in

Korean and made to fit the players' names. There's a bunch of classic, standard songs made into cheers: Champs-Elysee (classic French), Glory Glory Hallelujah (classic religious), Rivers of Babylon (classic rasta), If You're Happy and You Know

It (classic kindergarten), Cum on Feel the Noise (classic crappy-glam-metal), What's Up (classic 90's 4 Non-Blondes), all culminating in The Maple Leaf Rag (classic Joplin). Plus there are songs for when common things happen on the field, for example, an out at first base:  "Oh-Noo-Nai" which translates to "Someday."

                                                                                                                           
6. Mini Cooper bullpen cars. In the 80s and early 90s, bullpen cars were used to usher relief pitchers to the mound in the MLB. Being the Brew Crew fan that I am, I remember seeing Jose Orosco being driven up to the mound in the sidecar of a Harley. Here in Busan, the local BMW dealership sponsors the bullpen car, a Mini Cooper convertible. It's pretty awesome to see. I'm a big fan of bullpen cars in any form. Especially if it's a car for high school girls and men going through midlife crises.

                                                                                                                  5. Convenience stores in the stadium with my choice of beer. Do you hate paying $7 for a Miller Lite at a MLB stadium? I do as well. Screw mass

produced American beer in general, but it gets even worse when you have no choice and have to pay way too much for it. Enter the concourse area in Sajik stadium and enjoy the pleasure of in-stadium-convenience-stores. Beer fridges stocked are high. The prices are slightly elevated from the store downstairs from our apartment, but it's still less than 7,000 won for 64 oz bottle to share with friends. And yeah, it's still crappy Korean lager, but I'd rather drink a Max than a Busch Light any day, night, week, or weekend of the year.

                                                                                                                              4. Dance battle in the crowd = much more fun than Kiss-Cam. Yes, this is just what it sounds like. There is still a Kiss-Cam, but it is not the only jumbo-tron attraction in this town. Dance battles, yes, dance battles.

                                                          3. Lively spectators. I love a baseball game. Most any baseball game. Sometimes a crowd just isn't into it. Not so with the home crowd at the Giants' games. The crowd is pure electric. I've told you about the cheers, the songs, and the availability of copious amounts of beer. What elevates all of that is the dedication of the fans. They are in it until the end of every game. It's a party in the crowd and everyone is invited. Our seats were loud, super loud. It was like being back at a metal show in America, almost. It's not like metal shows have cheer leaders with a costume change per inning, but you get the point. The stands shook when the dancing girls started up. On top of that, the fans bring their party supplies to the game. Home made pompons from that day's sports sections are one of my favorites. Also the inflatable fingers, not foam, make a game day easily packable, yet fun to be at. The best comes around the 7th inning. Bright orange, plastic garbage bags are handed out to all the game's attendees. These bags are meant for stadium goers to bag their own garbage out after the 27th out, but for the 7th and 8th innings, they become Pacific-Rim-Ralley-Caps. Flopping, bubble style for the boys, Minnie Mouse style bows for the girls.

                                                                                                                                2. Fried Chicken. Growing up a Brewers fan, I know that stadium food means popcorn, peanuts, and sausages. Encased meats of all kinds grace Miller Park back in Milwaukee, but in our adopted hometown, fried chicken is king. Fried chicken in the stands is awesome. Get it inside or outside the stadium. It almost always comes with a couple of sauces and sometimes chopsticks. The chopsticks are nice, but isn't stadium food meant to be eaten with your hands. Oh yeah, get yourself a chicken glove, basically a Subway sandwich artist plastic glove, but it keeps the fingers clean and keeps the chopsticks in the box.

                                                                                                                            1. The price. Lets get real. I love the Brewers, but it can cost ton to visit the old ball park. $50 can get you to the lower level on the first base side for a game back in Milwaukee. In Sajik, we had premium seats for a grand total of 10,000 won a ticket. Lower level, right above an in-stadium 7-11.        
                                                                                                     

Lotte Giants Game from Shane Ebel on Vimeo.

Busan baseball, how I love thee, let me count the ways. Oh wait, I just did.

In the Neighborhood: Oncheoncheon Citizen's Park

I'm unsure of the actual length of the Oncheon-cheon Citizen's Park in Busan, South Korea. The stream runs through Dongnae-gu, Yeonje-gu, and Busanjin-gu, and just footsteps outside our apartment building near the Pusan National University of Education.

The sign posted near where I enter says the park's 2,062 km long. Even with my lack of metric system comprehension, I know that cannot be right. What I do know is that I love this park, and I'm really grateful for its presence.

I'm usually down at the stream at least twice a day, enjoying the green-space that the good people of Busan have provided. Here's a list of the features I think are most awesome:

13. Hand-weeded grass, bushes that spell neighborhood names, and other immaculate landscaping

12. Contests, games, & entertainment that the district frequently sponsors like the ones where we've seen traditional games, k-pop dance demonstrations, corn-flavored treats shaped like parasols, and opera

11. Large birds. There's a pair of grey herons that have been hanging around a lot since the spring, and a very nice mallard family lives up near Dongnae station. 

10. Grass that has now grown taller than me and listening to the wind blow through it. 

9. Flowers planted in uniform lines, bulls-eyes, and other entertaining shapes 

8. The near-constant stream of upgrades that make the park better every week 

7. Acupressure foot massages that soothe your weary feet

6. Visual trickery that hides away 

those ugly path blemishes from view

=5. The Q-bert-like steps, great for doggie obstacles and for sitting and enjoying a cold bottle of Cass or makkeoli on a summer night

4. Stepping stones across the stream that make your walk feel like an adventure

3. Feeling like a very minor celebri-tay because people always stop us to pet Diga (though sometimes this borders on weird, like the time Shane was asked his opinion on segregation)

2. Very well attended community aerobics and jazzercise classes

1. Side by side pedestrian and biking paths, on both sides of the stream and loads of public fitness equipment