I'm sorry I haven't updated recently. Lots has been going on with moving in, cleaning, first few days of work. I'll catch everything up this weekend but for now here's the octopus post I promised :)
Zak offered to go with me to the fish market since I still have no idea where anything is/how to use the buses or metro. The Seoul subway system is seriously the best I've ever been on. As soon as I get the hang of it I'm sure I'll like it even more lol. We met up with Rob at Noryangjin fish market and waited for the rest of their friends to show up. The mission: Buy a live octopus.
The fish market was huge. It was like this massive warehouse that had all of these individual tables set up where people could sell any fish you could think of. You picked out what you wanted, agreed on a price and then went into these restaurant areas beneath market where people would cook what you just bought.
 |
| View of the fish market from the above platform we were standing on |
 |
| So many tables! |
 |
| I loved the little outfits the old ladies were wearing. |
 |
| A table that we bought prawns from |
 |
| Penis fish! Google it! Youtube it! PENIS FISH! |
 |
| The fish we got :) |
 |
| Our octopus! |
After you bought your fish, you left and depending on what you bought, you went into these different restaurants under the fish market. Once you were seated, they would cook and prepare the food you bought. YUM. Our table of 8 got snowcrabs, prawns, fileted flounder, octopus and soup. IT WAS ALL SO GOOD! The flounder (I think that's what it was) was cut up raw and laid on platters of bean sprouts. It was the first thing that was brought out after all of the side bowls of wasabi, soy sauce, kimchi, carrots and garlic. There were also 2 types of leaves that were brought out for making lettuce wraps.
 |
| The restaurant downstairs |
 |
| One of the sushi plates. |
The next thing to come out was the cut up raw octopus. It was still moving on the plate! It's supposed to be eaten with this orange oily sauce but I liked it better with soy sauce. I think I ate the most of it lol. It wasn't good but it wasn't bad. I was expecting it to be way worse. It's super chewy and you have to chew it a bunch of times before swallowing otherwise it could get stuck to your mouth (which happened a few times to me).
 |
| Still moving! |
 |
| Here goes... |
 |
| Cute little room next to our table. |
 |
| Sushi! |
Next to come out was the cooked crabs and prawns. The prawns were my favorite. (I almost just typed that I've never had better seafood and then I remembered I'm from Maryland and have probably had amazing food that I don't even remember).
 |
| Yum! |
 |
| I told Zak if he ate the octopus head I'd buy him a pack of cigarettes. |
|
The last thing to come out was this soup that they put all of the leftover fish pieces in and had it cook on the table for about 15 minutes. It was so good!
 |
| This was some Soju game. Soju is a korean drink that you do shots of. You take the lid off of the bottle and twist the bottom part and pass the lid around and have each person flick it. When someone flicks the bottom piece off, the people on either side of them have to guess what number is underneath the lid and somehow someone ends up doing a shot. I'm still learning lol. |
 |
| These were the leaves that were brought to the table. The flat one on top is a sesame leaf and it literally tasted like black licorice. |
 |
| The kitchen area. |
It was a really cool experience and I wouldn't mind going back. I hope everyone likes the pictures :) I'll put up pictures of my apartment soon but it's still kinda messy with my clothes all over the place. I also feel the need to post about my superbowl experience this morning lol. Time for work! Love you all.
