Fourth of July in Korea……Saturday 4 of us Americans went to a restaurant called De Bassus which is a German place so naturally they have great beer. A Dunkel, Weisen, Helles and something too dark for me to drink. And imagine this place is only a 3,000krw (2.75$) taxi ride from my house!? What a find! We had delicious beer and french fries while sitting on the coastline and watching the tide going out as some far off islands come in and out of view with the movement of the heat fog. Gosh it is some kind of weather here right now!
Then a larger group of us congregated at Greg's apartment where we all were dying from heat especially since we had to keep the door to the porch closed on account of the fact that we were grilling on his porch and didn't want to fill the apartment with smoke. The spread of food is always as diverse as the group of people there. From burgers to BBQ chicken to grilled tofu, curried squash with hot peppers, rosemary butter potatoes, Greek salad and a ginger/soy sauce/ sesame seed oil marinated mix of veggies... there was something for all of us and enough for all of us.
Then we wondered off to find a bar where we could watch the world cup! We were in a more rural area of town and it was rough to find a place. But low and behold, one bar owner took her small TV out and propped it up on the bar and served us beer and soju and fruit. All ten of us fit around the table and enjoyed the game, all the while being the main form of entertainment for the three other, all male, patrons of the bar.
After Germany crushed Argentina, 4-0, we decided a proper night hike was in order so we collected a few bottles of makkoli (Korean rice wine) and two guitars and headed up one of the mountains by Miso dong. OK, the mountain is really more of a hill but it sure is steep like a mountain and the view from the top was pretty wonderful. I think we woke up every household we wondered by and we had all the dogs barking in the vicinity. Somehow we fiercely stumbled up the mountain sans light. We were very glad when we got to the top, tragically, so were the mosquitoes. There are bites all over my legs and feet but it is a small price to pay for a 4th of July celebration. We belted out the Star Spangled Banner from the top of that mountain like no body's business!! I wouldn't be surprised if N. Korea heard us! It wasn’t a bad way to ring in the holiday!
