Street food is my absolute favorite kind of food, whether its an empanada in Argentina, a green onion pancake in Taiwan, or what is quickly becoming a new favorite, cinnamon and brown sugar filled pastry in South Korea. 

Other than hot dogs and halal food in New York City, the US lacks a big street food culture. But in Asia, especially in cities, it thrives. People are busy here. And there are a lot of those busy people. So grabbing dinner or a snack on the street makes sense.

So, there is a lot to choose from. I plan on writing more street food entries. But today we start with what’s important. 

DESSERT.

There are a lot of dessert options: waffles and ice cream and chocolate filled cakes shaped like fish are all common. But my favorite is Hodduk. (Pronounced Ho-dok.) Its a small, doughy cake filled with melted cinnamon and sugar. Its served very hot and sometimes the vendor adds some nuts and seeds on top. 

It is honestly the perfect way to warm your belly on a cold, snowy day. 

Its made in these stalls, and its just honestly dough fried in oil. (The cleanliness of these stalls is debatable. But I’m always happy to risk a few days worth of diarrhea for a few minutes of heavenly, mouth bliss. As I proved with my emergency room IV a few months ago.)

They are served in cups and folded in half to make it easier to eat it fast. Which is the Korean way.

I prefer to savor mine though. If you visit me, I will buy you one.

(Also, all these photos were edited on Line Camera, a ridiculous Korean photo editing app, which I highly recommend you check out. Its too cute for this world.) 

sometimes funny things happen when you live abroad.

like when you go to the drugstore to buy body wash. and everything is in korean.

so you just grab the cheapest, big bottle.

and you get home and it smells like limes. so now you gotta walk around smelling like a margarita for six months. 

true story, friends. 

After a silly night out of drinks, dancing, and fast food, I woke up on Saturday, and like always, checked the news. And my heart sank. Information was pouring in about an elementary school shooting in CT. In America. In my home country.

I was in Taiwan during the Aurora shootings, and my heart broke. But my heart has shattered while reading the stories of the small children and brave teachers fleeing from a madaman in an elementary school.

When Obama suggested that parents hug their children closer on Friday, I cried. I can’t hug my parents or my sister or my friends because we’re oceans apart. And I felt so lonely.

Because America is such a powerful nation, I hear about it everyday in South Korea. I hear English music playing in coffee shops, my students ask questions about American films, my co-teachers ask about Obama, and even eleven year old students were smart enough to make fun of Romney (They pronounce his name R-money. HA). While I miss my friends and family, its easy to not miss my country because I can smell it everytime I walk past a Mcdonald’s. I can wear everytime, I go shopping at Forever 21. And, I can hear it, everytime I dance in a dirty club. 

But how do you miss it and mourn for it and love it and feel so fed up with it from so far away?

I don’t know. I’ve been reading the news obsessively, but that has only made me tear up at my desk. I’ve emailed and skyped with my family, but that only makes me want to hug them more. I’ve looked at pictures of my hometown and remembered my elementary school days, but that just makes it feel more distant. I’ve even brought in candy for my young students, seeing their faces next to the now-famous small faces from Sandy Hook. That only made my gut wrench.

(Guns are completely banned in South Korea, and there is very literally no gun violence here. That’s all I’ll say about that.) 

But over the last few days, I have missed and cursed my home in the same breath. I feel very alone in my mourning, and I think that’s what makes it hardest. In America, despite all its flaws, we really do stand together after tragedies. We are a community, solid and strong. I miss that community most of all in the aftermath. 

Fortune tellers, palm readers, and tarot card readers are very common in Korea. They have street stands, booth in malls, and stores in popular shopping districts. Couples often visit them before marriage or when they become pregnant. Sometimes, the readers even choose the name of a couple’s child.

So, naturally, James and I had to try it. (Don’t worry, Mom. I’m not pregnant or engaged. I promise. We just thought it would be fun.) 

We had an hour to kill before we saw The Hobbit (unpopular opinion: that movie was way too damn long), so when we saw a tarot card lady in the mall, we went for it.

The reading cost about 10,000 won, about 9 usd, and lasted like fifteen minutes. It was entirely in Korean, so James had to translate. And it was really, really fun. The lady spread a bunch of tarot cards in front of us, and we each choose three, then three more, then three, and then a final three. Half of the cards had pictures and half were just colors. 

Now, I don’t know anything about tarot cards, so I don’t know if what the lady told us was true. But, apparently, I have a very deep soul, and a fairly negative outlook on life. I also always try to find a reason for things and am much calmer than James. I’m also a daydreamer and a traveller. I’m also embarking on a new mental journey. Finally, I’m a peaceful, quiet, thoughtful person. All of this I found to be pretty true. 

James, on the other hand, is full of passion, ambition, jealousy, charm, confidence, and vision. He is experiencing the death of an old way of thinking, and changing his perspective on life. He will also be experiencing improvement in the condition of his life. (Hopefully, employment!) Again, I think a lot of his reading was pretty accurate too!

It was a really silly, fun experience. If you have a Korean speaking guide, I totally recommend the experience.