Market Day

On the 3 and 8 days of each month there is Market Day in Anjeong-ri (the little "ville" right outside of Camp Humphreys).  So basically, on the 3rd, the 8th, 13th, 18th... and so on.

It is supposedly a small market for Korea... and I'm grateful for it.  It can be a bit overwhelming as it is, so it's nice to kind of enmesh myself in the culture in more bite-size chunks.  This market is now becoming more familiar and comfortable.  

When wandering the market, one can prepare to see all sorts of different fruits, vegetables, fish, and "what in the world is that???!!!" things.  The smells... Oh the smells of Korea.  Nothing creates a memory quite like a smell.  One second, you smell sweet cinnimon and nut filled pancakes... (called Hotteok)

And the next, you smell... this....

 Wait, let's go back to the Halmoni (term for Grandma that you use for all Grandma aged women) making Hotteok.  I wish that I could have just gotten you the video of it.  But she is literally using her fingers to push these pancakes around.  Hot oil ALL OVER THEM.  You can see that her hands are covered in it.  But I have to try to shut my jaw every time I see her.  I know that callouses build up, and that she can't really be in pain doing this... but it is just utterly fascinating to me.  I think of her having done this for years.  And watching her carefully craft each pancake with the yumminess that is inside, like it is part of a dance, is just something happy I will forever take with me.

Alta and Mila LOVE market day.  Alta eagerly seeks out her favorite thing each time we go.  To watch the Octopuses.  They squirm and wriggle and it fills her with such joy.  And you would think that this joy would be ended by her knowing their fate.  Nope... just today Alta informed me that "someone was going to take these home and kill them and eat them."

.... "Yup.  How do you feel about that?"

"Fine... then they get to be with Heavenly Father."

Oh how I love her!  

Mila got a bit camera shy this morning, but she wanted me to take a picture of the pretty fish.  Good idea kiddo!  

On our shopping trip today we scored the following:

Strawberries - Oh my goodness, the strawberries here are worth the trip to Korea in and of themselves! Best fruit you will ever taste in your lifetime.  Whatever I thought was a strawberry in America, will now be a sad and pathetic version of what God intended them to taste like.   Anyhow, we haven't left the market yet without some. 

Carrots

Sweet potatoes

Beets 

Lettuce 

Cucumbers 

Red and Yellow peppers 

Broccoli 

Bananas

Korean pastries - the girls got to pick a small assortment of pastries and guess what was inside them.  From what I could tell it was sweet bean paste.  Possibly dates.  

As you can imagine, my life as a vegetarian means that my meals are based around vegetables, and so this market is a bit of dream come true for me.  I do a large majority of our grocery shopping here... and love that it is part of MY Korea now.  My goal for each market is to try something new.

Happy Market day everyone!