Day 55 -- Movie Theatre, Church-Shopping, and The Great Korean Cookie Baking Adventure

"Linji, you are ready?"

When you are asked this question by your Korean host family, know that it is very much a loaded question. The last time I was asked this question was the day I ended up spending four hours in a car just to drop Sae Yeob off in Seoul when I was expecting a tourist day in the city. Needless to say, I was wary when my host mother popped in my room and posed this seemingly innocent question.

As it turns out, I spent most of the day (which I had originally set aside for teaching preparations and solo errands around the town) going around Nonsan with the family. We went out for lunch, where I was openly stared at by some ajjumas in the restaurant, then headed to the movie theatre to watch some mystery/horror/haunting film. In Korean. With no subtitles. There was a section about five minutes long where I understood every single word and I almost cried. But then I didn't understand the rest and I just stared at the screen dumbly, not understanding why people were gasping or the music was getting dramatic.

Afterwards, the host family took me on a drive around the town while we searched for churches. I'm really interested in finding a youth group somewhere because in my experiences, youth group kids tend to be a lot of fun and incredibly accepting. Considering I'm a foreigner and don't have fun with kids my age here, that's a winning combination. We finally did find one, so I'll try to find a way to get out there next week.

Then... I decided it was time to try cooking. Specifically, chocolate chip cookies. I had asked my host family yesterday if they had everything I needed and after about 30 minutes of hunting, they assured me that, yes, they had everything. Fantastic!

But they didn't. Specifically, no vanilla extract (expected, no big deal) and no white, granulated sugar (not expected, big deal). We throw everything in the bowl and start mixing... and keep mixing... and still mixing... They don't have an electronic beater. Guess what's really difficult to do by hand? Mix cookie dough. We finally get it homogenous and throw the stuff on a (small) baking tray. But wait! The oven only goes up to 250! These cookies need it to be 375! Well, we'll just leave them in a little longer... About 10 minutes and the smell of OMGBURNING later, I realize my mistake.

PROTIP: Korean ovens are in *C, not *F.

We figured it out in the end, and in the mean time, we picked at our burnt cookies with chopsticks. Because this is Korea, and that makes sense.

A picture's worth a thousand words...

Mutilated cookies, milk, the recipe (on the bag), and my needs-to-be-upgraded cell-phone

My host mother with the product of our experimentation

Aw yeah, eating cookies with chopsticks.