First things.

This weekend we experienced many firsts...and we didn't even leave Sokcho! On Friday we had the teacher crew over again for lunch. Paul and I decided we wanted to make curry (and rice) for the gang. No problem. We even made it easier on ourselves by purchasing curry mix at the store, the kind you just prepare with water and add rice to. But not knowing how far curry stretches, I bought a 1 kg bag of it (wanting to have enough for everyone!)...which ended up being too much. Almost 3 times too much. Hong, Jenny, Helen, Kirsty, Ara, Paul and I all ate curry and rice and there was still enough left over to fill up all of our tupperware! And it was some thick curry too...good and spicy and thick. I still can't believe people actually ate it...I don't think we made it right (darn those directions in hangul!)
The second first came later that night. Ara, Conner, Kelsey and I were waiting at a local bar for Paul to finish teaching. I'd had beer at this bar before...but I hadn't had fried chicken!! Apparently, Koreans cook up some mean chicken. Unlike the greasiness of American fried chicken, Korean fried chicken is lighter. According to Ara, they cook it once in the oil, then remove it and let the oil drain off, then cook it again (which doesn't make sense to me...wouldn't it be greasier if it were fried twice?). Anyway, we ordered a plate of sesame chicken (which was fried and had a rich sticky sweet sauce on it) and it was heavenly. Koreans are wild about this stuff and order it delivered to their homes.
The third first came on Saturday night. Kirsty, Helen, Mitch, Paul, Ara, Kelsey and I went bowling! Yes, they actually have bowling in Sokcho (a few places even!). We went bowling near Helen's school (Dari) and Mr. Pizza. We were very skeptical that there'd be shoes big enough to fit Paul's clodhoppers, but they actually had a pair that he managed to squeeze his feet into (a la asian women footbinding style :). So we played 3 rounds (boys v. girls) and had a blast. It almost felt like being at a neighborhood alley in smalltown, USA, with a couple slight differences: a) no alcohol in Korean bowling alleys (weird!!) and b) no smoking in Korean bowling alleys (weirder!!). I suppose they want to make it family-friendly.
The fourth first came on Sunday afternoon, when we tried a new restaurant (well, new to us) by our house. This is a regular neighborhood joint which serves all the typical Korean dishes: gimbap, omurice (that's an omelette with rice inside), miso soup (spicy tofu soup), and tonkatsu (breaded pork cutlet). Well, this was my first time trying the tonkatsu--boy was it tasty! Tonkatsu with gimbap on the side, kimchi, noodles with hot chili sauce...deeelicious!

Look Mom! I bought my first plant!

The view from our balcony

And today, we had our first sticking snowfall of the winter (since we've been here)! It snowed a bit over the weekend, but nothing stuck. This morning, we awoke to a white wonderland (and plenty of slush for our foot commute to work). Apparently, it is typical in Sokcho to have snow during March and even April (aw man...and I thought spring was around the corner...)