Spring Sidewalk Soup

If we seem to be preoccupied with food...there's a reason. Once again today at lunch, we had a replay of the old, "Give it to Mikey" commertial. Only in this case, it was, "What do you think it is?" "I don't know, you try it". No, you try it!" Whatever it is, Doug has named it, Spring Sidewalk Soup". I think I mentioned the other day that we've seen women now, gathering green "stuff" that's sprouted along the sidewalks or in any green area. Yesterday and today, we're quite certain that some of  the aforementioned "green stuff" found its way into our soup at lunch. Wednesday it was mixed with spinach, today we suspected seaweed but no, it was something else - a dark, large-leafed mystery green.  In any case today's soup was accompanied by various side dishes along with a main entree of rice and a slab of cold cooked fish. But....we persevere.
As a side note- ( Doug is making me say this) those who know me, know I NEVER eat at McDonalds - ever. I'm just not crazy about their hamburgers. Sadly enough, this afternoon I could be found searching the internet for McDonalds in Daejeon.
Then, in keeping with our food theme... As you know, I've been very enthusiastic about this new "Loose Weight Fast Diet", and it seems to be working quite well. Then tonight, on one of our sojourns into the "Dinkytown" area next to Chungnam U, I may  have met my "Waterloo". There, in plain site, and a mere mile or so from our dorm - Italian Gelato. ( For those of you not familiar with gelato, it's Italian icecream and it's the best dessert I can think of. )When I was in Italy, I had at least two a day. This is not a good omen for someone who is determined to loose weight! Hopefully, "Korean gelato" will have few similarities to what I'm expecting. Depending on how you look at it and based on recent experience, that's a very real possibility.

Last night we ventured out and went to see Alice in Wonderland. The theater was on the seventh floor of a building - very modern - very nice. We loved the movie. But what I really wanted to talk about was our cab ride. I haven't mentioned it yet, but most of the cabs and cars we've ridden in have been equipped with small TVs on the dashboard. The traffic here, while not Italy, is congested and we're not certain there are any speed limits. Drivers dart in and out of any space they can find. At times, I close my eyes - it's better that way. Meanwhile, it's clear by their laughter, our drivers are paying attention to something other than the road. Our only comfort, we see few dented or scratched vehicles. We're hoping this is a possive sign.

And finally, tonight's English class went much smoother than Tuesday's. Tonight's class had obviously been in touch with Tuesday's class - they knew exactly what we were going to do. But for whatever reason, this group was more comforable with taking risks and trying out their English skills. We had a really good time. We suspect that one of the students is an "exotic" dancer. At least when we asked about hobbies, that's what we think she was trying to say . That definition seemed to be reinforced when the boys in the class encouraged her to give a demonstration. Life is an adventure here in Korea.

PS  If you're following - Wednesday's bathroom selection was, The Dance of the Sugarplum Fairies.