My Favorite Part of the Day...

As a teacher, and as someone who loves teaching, I guess I'm supposed to say that my favorite part of the day is when I can see that light bulb go on in a student's eye. You know, that moment when I get confirmation that this child has actually learned something I'm teaching him/her. Not so. Don't get me wrong, those moments are AMAZING! But they don't happen every day (much to my chagrin). Therefore, my favorite part of every, single day is LUNCH TIME!

For my friends living in the States, you're probably thinking, 'What the Hell are you talking about, Monica??!?", because you're remembering OUR school lunches. Those bland, tasteless, pre-packaged and pre-frozen abominations the lunch ladies would aggressively slop onto our trays. Ooooh, friends...that is NOT how it's done here in S. Korea!

While there are times when a portion of the tray contains something processed, like chicken nuggets, or mini corn dogs, for the most part, this stuff is fresh and cooked on-site by a hard-working, slightly harried clutch of lunch ladies that make the ones in the States look like slackers. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE lunch ladies in the States as well...I love everyone who feeds me. But I have never seen them haul ass like these ladies.

As you can see in the pictures I have, the lunches here are, while slightly nonsensical in their pairings (to my western mind), fresh, piping hot, and really quite healthy. And yes, rice is served every, single day. Oh! One confession... I took these pics over a month ago, so I may have forgotten what some of these things are, and I have NO idea what the Korean names for these dishes are - never did. But here we go... always using a 12 o'clock starting point, moving clockwise...

Meat loaf concoction with rice cake balls and veggies in it; some spicy potato side; spicy soup with Spam chunks, cabbage, and lots of other veggies; rice; and a spicy soy bean sprout salad.

Chicken wings (my fave part, which is the middle, 2-boned section); kimchi; spicy green onion soup; bibimbap (rice covered in veggies and a spicy sauce); 1/2 an orange.

Baked fish (FULL of bones = too much work, esp. with chopsticks! But it's good, so I make the effort); kimchi; really spicy fish soup with kimchi and veggies in it; rice w/ some kind of purple bean sprinkled throughout; mandu (dumplings filled with delicious pork and noodles).

Steamed egg loaded with veggies (SO good!); that portion is empty cuz I HATE the spicy radish stuff, which you can see on the tray next to mine; really good and really spicy soup with pork neckbones, potatoes, onions and other veg; rice; processed seafood cakes with really good tartar sauce on the side.

Little seafood cake 'nuggets'; kimchi (rouge seafood cake on top); soup with tofu (YUCK), thin radish slices (I like them this way), green onions and seaweed; jjim dak (spicy chicken stew) over rice; empty-prob because there were more of those damned spicy radishes!

Baked fish (a veritable bounty of bones included); those lil nasty radishes AGAIN (they must have REALLY been in season); spicy soup with Spam, kimchi, tofu and onions; rice with a lot of those purple beans in them, a packet of nori (for the rice); omelette with veggies galore.

So there you have it, a SMALL sample of the goodies we are served for lunch. And please believe me when I tell you this is a SMALL representation. The menu is largely dominated by what's in season, and it's always made fresh in the cafeteria every day. Oh! And, for teachers at least, it's served buffet style, so you can go back and get extras of anything you want! Awesomeness!

I know some of you are thinking, "Ick! I'd never eat HALF of that stuff!", and that's ok. You don't have to like it. I've always been pretty adventurous with food, and I'm greedy, which means I'll try most things at least once. So, to me, these meals are delicious, and I don't have to cook them! Woot! Woot! :-)

Thanks for reading!!
Monica
Twitter: Monica@dngrslyrelaxed
Instagram: dangerouslyrelaxed (nothing, and I mean, NOTHING is on this right now. Soon, I promise! Same thing with Keek: DangerosulyRelaxed. Soon...

P.S. I know this post should have been up a month ago. I deeply apologize, and will endeavour to never let this kind of time lapse happen again in between posts. April proved to be a "Ramotional" time for me here. I'll fill you in on all the details in a couple of weeks. Take care! xoxo