I thought I'd already written about this but I couldn't find it in the mass of text I've written (my liberal arts training has given me the ability produce huge bodies of text in a relatively short period of time without getting too bored), so I'm going to devote a quick post to it. I love Korean food, even though it's very spicy (I have a hard time with spicy food). I'm trying to build up my tolerance to it though, because there are so many great spicy foods in the world out there and I've really limited myself in never eating them. You just have to not think about it. I pride myself in being able to eat pretty much any food (I can't think of anything off of the top of my head that I don't like), and since the spicy food category is a big one, I better conquer it. I'm already pretty used to it. Anyway, as much as I love Korean food, I do get kind of sick of eating it every meal, every day, so I've definitely had my fair share of Burger King, McDonald's, and Subway.
In Korean restaurants you generally take your shoes off and sit on the floor (usually you get a thin pillow). It's hard for me though because my legs are really long and cross-legged I can't fit them under the low tables, so I have to shift from position to position and my back gets kind of sore. I kind of like the idea though, not having your shoes on and sitting on the floor makes you feel more at home. Usually every table has a stove (either gas or charcoal) and, if necessary (always with meats), they cook your food right in front of you (or you do it yourself, but since I'm a foreigner, they always do it for me).
Each table has a wooden box with metal spoons and chopsticks (Korea is the only country that uses metal chopsticks apparently), and usually stacks of cups, and they give you a container of water. You always get your food within 5 minutes of ordering it, and, by the way, you don't tip them. So you don't wait for food, you never have to wait for a table (I've never seen it happen), you refill your own water, and you don't tip them. Not to mention the prices are way lower than those of restaurants in the states. And you don't have to worry about some annoying server constantly interrupting your conversation and "taking care of you." When I have dinner, I don't need to be taken care of. I can take care of myself. Just give me a pitcher of water and leave me alone. If there's something wrong with the food, I'll let you know. Why can't we have restaurants like these in the states???? I guess it's no surprise that there are restaurants EVERYWHERE here. You wouldn't believe how many restaurants there are. Koreans must eat out all of the time because it's such a good deal.
There are tons of American places here as well. On the main street that's two blocks from my house, there's a Baskin Robbins (there seems to be one on every street), a Subway, a Coldstone Creamery (though it's extremely expensive, unfortunately), and McDonald's and Starbucks (those are on every street as well). There's a Burger King right by my work, which is apparently equally as popular as McDonald's here and came first. There's tons of Dunkin Donughts as well. There's Papa John's too, which they had at the hagwon the other night. I live a block away from a Korean pizza chain called Pizza School which is really good (it would do well in the states, especially with its prices and how fast it is). It has some interesting flavors...pork ribs (with a rib on each piece), pork loin crepe or something like that, Mexican bite pizza, Deutsche bite pizza (German themed I guess), and two potato pizzas, among other things. There's also a Korean fast food burger chain called Krazee Burger that's really good apparently but I haven't tried it since there aren't any near where I live or near my work.
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