Candice in Korea
 
Koreans are all about food! It's a way of life here, and part of everyday socializing. Not only do people go out for dinners and lunches, but also snack together throughout the day. I thought I'd be eating a lot less here, but I thought wrong hey! Don't get me wrong, I actually love it because by 4pm I'm usually starving so it's great to tame my stomach with a light snack. However, after 'Volleyball Wednesdays' we usually have more than a light snack... more like a huge meal (which then leads to drinking meaning I only leave school some hours later).

At kindergarten there is endless food. Snacks before lunch include sweet potato, donuts, kimbab, songpyeon, yogurt and jam mix, all of which are usually home-made by one of the teachers. Afternoon snacks are usually take-out foods like tteokbokki, pizza, chicken, cake, chilli dogs, etc.

Today I was given this tray:
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It's a Vietnamese snack similar to spring rolls, except for the fact that they're not fried. The ingredients include fruit, veggies, prawn or pork and it's wrapped in rice paper. [apparently the korean rice paper isn't exactly the same as the Vietnamese]. I think it's just called a summer roll, but in Korean it's walnamsam.
Served with chilli sauce and a cup of ginger, cinnamon & pinut mix. It was super delish!
 
So spicy food is not really my thing, and as for sauces well, I prefer my food as plain as possible. I’ve never been able to tolerate hot food, but after living in Korea for almost four months now I’ve adapted and my pallet is way more experienced. Knowing I was coming to a country where the food is so foreign to what I know I told myself that I would be adventurous and that I wouldn’t turn my nose up to anything without trying it first. I’ve done pretty well so far, and although I haven’t tried everything I’m proud of myself so far. I can’t say the same for myself when I was a kid. If there was something I didn’t think looked appealing, I would just ignore it. I wouldn't even try tomatoes because they were red, and to me that meant hot. The kids here however are brought up having to eat exactly what adults eat - spice and all! It’s given me some laughs at lunch time when the kids brace themselves for a chopstick full of kimchi and then gulped down a glass of water, and so it goes till their lunch tray is empty. 
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