One Month in Korea - part 1

It was Jen's Dad's 70s birthday which is a the big one in Korea so the entire family went to celebrate.  Jen and I were in a life situation where we were able to spend a month in Korea so we slowly jumped at the chance.  Jen has never lived there or really experienced it without her parents in tow.  Let's see how we do!

Oh cool we get to fly on the new Airbus A380 where everything is new and more comfortable.  But oh hey now the plane is so huge that it's possible to have a seat where its gigantic wing takes up your entire view.  Also Steven's dad designed part of this wing, curse you Steven's dad.

after the whole fam settling into the huge airbnb in Yeonnamdong we went down the street to this beef bbq place 

this grill was cool because it kept the doenjang jjigae hot

what seems to be a banchan delivery lady, this is a new thing and you can seem them making deliveries everywhere.  Also jetlag is always bad for me so I was up at 3am for the first few days, gradually being able to sleep 1 more hour so by the time a week has gone by I might be able to sleep until 6am.  I had a job that paid too much to say no to so at least I had that to do while sitting in the dark waiting for everyone else to get up.  Actually it was good that both Jen and I had work to do everyday until at least lunchtime because the harsh Korean winter temperatures seriously limited our available activities and we would have been really bored just eating/shopping/drinking/eating/shopping

Namdaemun shopping area.

I think we went to this place, 희락갈치 in Namdaemun that someone knew.  It was delish.

they specialize in some kind of fish that I forgot.

The population of Seoul is 10 million.

waiting in line for delicious hodduk (inside is brown sugar, cinnamon and some kind of nuts)

The Yoo fam always gathers at a (Koreanized) Chinese restaurant for big family dinners.

Craft beer has exploded in Korea and you see signs for it everywhere.  Also because of Korean protectionist policies craft beer is taxed so much that it makes it very expensive.  Even locally brewed Korean craft beer is expensive because they tax the hops, yeast, etc at a very high rate.  You will pay more for a craft beer, even a local one, than you pay in the states.  Jen's dad had some kind of $15 goose island whilst a a normal Korean pint was like 8 or 9 dollars!