Korea Day 2: It turns out I love food

Growing up I used to be a picky eater. Ridiculously picky. Embarrassingly picky. Before I left I talked to my family about my excitement to try new and interesting foods. My mom wasn't convinced that I would try or like new foods. Maybe it was more along the lines of her not thinking that I was ready to eat those foods. Her reasoning was that if I didn't like something basic like mushrooms or tomatoes, how could I even begin to try something Korean? (As if I needed to try everything in my home country before moving on to a different cuisine...)

Today I had kimchi for breakfast again. And twice as much at lunch. I am pretty sure enough of it will either make learning Korean easier or turn me into one of the X-Men. (Hopefully one who's power is speaking Korean.) I don't love it yet, but I do like it. I think it would go really well in place of sour kraut on a brat. Its still cabbage and instead of a mild sweetness and mild tangyness, it has spice and sour. It is a bold mix of flavors. Please, someone go to opening day and eat a kimchi brat. Or send me some brats. I'll tailgate at a korean baseball game and eat like a king.

Our opening ceremony dinner was held in the gymnasium of the university where we are staying. There were two 100 buffets set up filled with food. I decided to try as much as I could fit on my plate.

The other challenge that I have been working through is the korean chopsticks. I am used to wooden or plastic sticks, but these are different. They are made of stainless steel and are flattened at the end so the surface that goes in your hand is thinner and rectangular. They have a bit of a heft to them and get slippery quickly. I decided that I wanted to master them (well at least become proficient) before my orientation was over. I am 60% where I want to be with them. I can get food into my mouth, it just isn't as graceful as I would like.

Here is dinner. What is this stuff? I don't really know...At this point I am optimistic and excited about what I am about to eat. There is so much possibility for the future. There are foods I have never seen before. There are foods I saw last night for the first time. The most shocking food from the whole meal? The broccoli. I love steamed broccoli but this was steamed then put into an ice bath. Maybe it was just not finding the familiarity that I was looking for as soon as I put it in my mouth.

I ate everything. Snail and all. It was delicious and filling. OK. It wasn't all delicious...I think I will have to give some of the food another go. It doesn't matter though. I am having a great time exploring this culture. I hope to eat my way through the entire animal kingdom by the time I return to the states. Let me know if you are interested in an African safari.