{"id":226,"date":"2016-03-14T09:15:23","date_gmt":"2016-03-14T16:15:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/?p=226"},"modified":"2016-03-13T09:15:41","modified_gmt":"2016-03-13T16:15:41","slug":"stepping-out-of-your-comfort-zone-paw-by-paw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/2016\/03\/14\/stepping-out-of-your-comfort-zone-paw-by-paw\/","title":{"rendered":"stepping out of your comfort zone, paw by paw"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because that’s what going on exchange is all about, right?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I went out with my Mentor’s Club cell to Gyungbok Palace (\uacbd\ubcf5\uad81)<\/a>, Tongin Market (\ud1b5\uc778\uc2dc\uc7a5)<\/a>, and then for some makegeolli (Korean rice wine, \ub9c9\uac78\ub9ac)<\/a> and Korean pancake (\uc804<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We were originally going to have an early dinner at the market – they have this program where you can get a plate, and then you can choose any 7 foods from the market for 7 000KRW. Stef was really excited about coming here, because she’d heard about this place from watching Running Man and Infinity Challenge.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the place was closed! They only open from 11am to 5pm.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So we decided to just sit at this little restaurant directly across from the place, and try some Korean street food.<\/p>\n

If you haven’t had Korean street food before, don’t worry… there are street food vendors literally all over the street selling all types of things – from the classic ddukbokki (\ub5a1\ubcf6\uc774 – Korean spicy rice cakes)<\/a>, to boongeobbang (\ubd95\uc5b4\ube75 – fish cake\/bread with filling, like Japanese taiyaki)<\/a>, you’ll definitely find a lot of things to try.<\/p>\n

So we got two types of ddukbokki: just the normal type, and oil ddukbokki (\uae30\ub984 \ub5a1\ubcf6\uc774)<\/a>. The difference: the normal ddukbokki is more soupy (?) and the oil ddukbokki is pan-fried in oil. So, it becomes more crispy and more chewy – more chilis are also added on top. We got both a spicy and non-spicy version of the oil ddukbokki. I can’t really eat spicy foods, but I was surprised at the amount of all the ddukbokki I ate – not to mention I don’t really like rice cakes in general.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We also got some eomuk\/odeng (\uc5b4\ubb35\/\uc624\ub385, Japanese style fish cake on a stick)<\/a>. Yummy! Something not spicy (for once) that I like. It also came with a soup.. which I can only imagine how much MSG has been added into it. Koreans love their MSG, and for good reason too – it really does make everything taste better.<\/p>\n

We also each got to try a Korean style hot dog, which is like a corn dog, but sweet. The coating is also not salty, it’s more of a mushy, sweet bread. It’s covered with both ketchup AND sugar – I’m surprised I was even able to eat the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The real highlight of that meal, though, was the soondae\/sundae (\uc21c\ub300, blood sausage)<\/a> and the liver.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

I really don’t like intestines. I’d never tried them before, but I could never really stomach (hah) the idea<\/p>\n

that I was eating the internal organs of an animal. But for whatever reason.. I decided to give it a try.<\/p>\n

The soondae had this really gross squishy feeling that Stef and I both agreed made us want to throw up. The liver was really grainy and sandy. So I tried both the things, didn’t like the texture of both.<\/p>\n

We also had some Korean style pancake, as well as makgeolli and soju.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Previously, I’d tried a citron flavoured soju with Stefanie, Vivian, and Estevan and all of us agreed it tasted horrible. This time around, I tried both a peach one and a blueberry one – the blueberry one tasted like medicine, but the peach one was actually okay!<\/p>\n

I’m really glad that I went out to the cell meeting that day. Originally, I didn’t even want to go – but I’m really happy that I did, because I got to try something new, and meet new people.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

My personality is one that really doesn’t like change – I like the way things are, and I don’t like stepping out of my comfort zone. But having tried all these new things, I really feel like I’m growing and becoming more brave, in a way. \u00a0Step by step, I’m starting to learn that it’s okay to try, and it’s okay to not like things. As long as you’ve had the experience, that’s what really matters. I really am glad that I tried everything, because having tried it and knowing that you don’t like it is better than never having tried it before, right?<\/p>\n

Plus, it gives me confidence knowing that I really am changing for the better, and that by coming here I haven’t wasted my time just playing around.<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because that’s what going on exchange is all about, right?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32883,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[60,1293313,1293305,241,1293298,1293311,1293304,584831,1293302,1293297,1293309,1293307,78115,1293303,1293312,1293300,1293299,1293308,1293306,1293315,1293310,1293301],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-blog","tag-blood-sausage","tag-ddukbokki","tag-food","tag-gyungbok-palace","tag-hot-dog","tag-jeon","tag-liver","tag-makgeolli","tag-mentors-club","tag-odeng","tag-oil-ddukbokki","tag-place","tag-soju","tag-soondae","tag-tongin-market","tag-1293299","tag-1293308","tag-1293306","tag-1293315","tag-1293310","tag-1293301"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32883"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/kwongkat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}