Live Octopus, First Impressions, and Bar Crawling

So I have been craving some craziness in my life. It's like Seal sang "no, we're never gonna survive... unless we get a little crazy." Every now and then I get this urge. It's the same urge that has led me some some of the coolest experiences in my life such as jumping off a 300 foot bridge with my feet wrapped in towels, riding on the back of a motorcycle with the wind in my face, hitch-hiking through Africa, throwing myself off the high dive at Camp Tecumseh, living in a sorority house with 100 women, letting an Israeli man stick an inked needle into my skin in Amsterdam, sneaking my car out of my parent's garage on a school night in high school, white water rafting the Nile's 5 class rapids, living with no electricity or running water for 2 months, jumping out of a plane at 13,000 feet in the air... some might say stupid. I say crazy. So what crazy thing did I get myself into this time? I decided to eat octopus. No biggie, right? Did I mention that the octopus was still ALIVE?! Yep, that's right. Friday night Sean and I ventured to a Korean restaurant that specialized in, you guessed it- octopus! We ordered a few types of octopus dishes to try including the live octopus tentacles. I had been psyching myself up all day long and was feeling pretty confident, but when the server brought out the plate my stomach dropped a little. There were tons of tentacles all cut up into small pieces just squiggling and squirming around on the plate. I really couldn't believe how much they were moving and I began feel like backing out was a smart option. After watching Sean successfully finish his first taste, it was my turn. I gathered up the nerve at picked out a good piece. First I dipped it into the sesame seed oil and then into a hot sauce. After a small struggle to keep it between my chopsticks, I was able to plop it into my mouth. The only thing on my mind was 'chew, chew, chew' so that's what I did. I focused on chewing the whole piece before I swallowed. Apparently if you do not chew it all the way the tentacles can suction to your throat or esophagus and you can choke. By the time the first piece of octopus was making its' way into my stomach, I was feeling good and even tried a few more pieces. We tried some of the other side dishes and a seafood pancake and then decided it was time to hit to road and have some 'real' dinner, so we went to our favorite Mexican spot and grabbed some avocado burritos. I would definitely recommend live octopus to anyone in living in or visiting Korea. It was not as bad as you might think it might be, and I didn't even really mind the taste or the hot sauce. An experience to remember.

live octopus

nervous smile

chewing away

Check out some videos of the live octopus action here:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100184498545299&ref=mf

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100184723549389

Saturday night Sean and I went to Gangnam to meet his grandma, aunt, and cousin for dinner. We met at a shabu shabu place owned by one of Sean's aunts. Needless to say I was super nervous meeting some of his family, but Sean helped me feel comfortable and told me to relax and be myself. His aunt and cousin spoke a bit of English and everyone was trying to get his cousin to practice speaking with me, but she was really shy. She's a freshman in high school and studies English with a foreign teacher also named Jackie. His family was very kind and made me feel a little more at ease with compliments and smiles. I tried my best to make a good first impression and think it went over well. The meal was delicious; once again I ate octopus (cooked this time), and other seafood like squid, clams, mussels, and fish cakes. After dinner was over we said goodbye and Sean and I headed to Apujeong to meet some friends.

Sean and I before dinner

My first Korean "bar crawl" was a success. Our friend Graham arranged the whole thing and everyone met in Apujeong at Wara Wara Bar for some soju and fruit drinks. After that it was onto a small hole-in-the-wall bar for some vodka tonics. We left that bar and went to Ho Bar for some beers and shots. Then we moved to Monkey Beach, a crazy crowded club that serves buckets of alcohol. Wearing brand new shoes out for a long night is never a good idea. My feet looked amazing, but felt like hell, so a few of us decided to leave and find another bar where we could sit down. We ended up at the "Crazy Wine Bar" across the street. That was the name- no joke. Gotta love Korea for their outrageous restaurant/shop/bar names. There was no one else in the bar, so the servers let us pick the music and do whatever we wanted. My friend Aly and I were line dancing with the servers and we proceeded to do rounds of beers and shots. This last well until 5A.M. when we decided it was time to call it a night. I went home with a major headache, black feet (from dancing bare foot in the bar), and lots of incriminating photos. Great friends. Great night.

at bar #2

Chris, me, and Aly

the ladies

Monkey Beach

breaking it down

Sunday was a chill out day. Just needed some time to relax and cure my hangover. Sean and I went to see Green Zone at the movies and ate some Korean BBQ for dinner afterwards. Sunday night BBQ is slowly becoming our tradition and I don't mind one bit. I love BBQ!

Spring has finally arrived on this little peninsula and the cherry blossom trees are beginning to bloom. They will only last for a few weeks and I am trying to enjoy as much of them as I can while they are here. The little pink flowers are so dainty and beautiful. I just love the volume and shape they give to the trees. I was really surprised at just how many cherry trees there are around- I never knew when they were brown and bare in the winter time. I snapped a few photos this weekend, but believe me, there will be more to come!

cherry blossoms

Namaste