Pizza Country and Chicken Princess

Today we had a birthday party! I wasn't really sure what the party was for, but it ended up being for everyone who had a birthday this month. Students and teachers alike, so it ended up being maybe 7-8 people. We got all the K-PACE students and RA's together along with one of the teachers and had a crazy 파티 (Pa Ti) Party!

Before I get to all that fun, I had something new for breakfast today! 불고기 덮밥 (Bulgogi Deop Bap) this is simply bulgogi with rice. Just like the dak kalbi I have most mornings, this is the chicken substituted with bulgogi. Here's a nommy pic.

Bulgogi Deop Bap!

After breakfast we went back to the dorms for a quick break before leaving for the party. I took a quick nap and got ready to leave. We walked to the K-PACE building and put the desks together so the students could fit 4 to a table. Here are some pics to bring the experience to life.

Jammin some KPop to get everyone movin!

My boi Jeong Bin at the head of the class keeping everyone entertained.

RA's at the front, ballers in the back.

Just passin out that good good.

Pizza and Chicken!

The grand finale! Cake!

 So the teacher came in and put up a grid on the overhead and had the students start rattling off Korean dishes. Apparently this was for a competition they are going to have in a month or so. They will be making dishes and wanted to pick 5 of all of the dishes suggested. I'm not sure how this will turn out.

As the title suggests, the place that these pizzas and chicken wings were ordered from is called Pizza Country, Chicken Princess. I love it. I absolutely love it. The pizza ended up being garbage pizza, with the weirdest stuff thrown on it. I think I had mushroom, green onion, black olives, shrimp, chicken, onion, and other stuff on it. Wasn't a fan of that one, other than that it was ok. I would say in line with something you'd get at a Domino's or Little Caesars.

The chicken was very good. They love their fried chicken here. I wouldn't say it was the best I've had while here, but it was very good. This party was quite American, and I wasn't complaining. We had Pepsi as our refreshment, and ended with two cakes! One cake was a sweet potato pie cake. That was amazing. The other was a fruit topped cake. That one I didn't like as much.

After hanging for awhile we cleaned up and headed back to the dorms. I spent all day trying to talk An Hyo Sang into hitting the gym. He kept saying "Nope" (that's his special word) that he was busy, but I finally got him to agree. A couple of the students wanted to join so we were able to go to the dorm gym and get a good workout in.

After the workout I got a shower in and started to watch my buddy Alex stream. My boy Jeong Bin stopped by and watched as well. We had a great time talking to Alex as he streamed and the students were rolling on the floor laughing. He is very popular with the students haha, it's a good way to bond.

Dinner was something new as well!닭갈비 카레밥 (Dak Kalbi Ka Re Bap) This is chicken with curry rice. I couldn't really find a recipe as this must be sort of unique to 8 Ho Gwan that we go to, but man it's good. I like teasing Alex with pictures of my meals on snap chat.

Chicken Curry Bap!

After dinner we headed back to the dorm and it was time to relax. One of the few times of the week where I get to just space out and be alone. As Alex gets more popular in the dorm though I assume that time will diminish as the students come in more and more. I welcome that though because we get a chance to bond. These kids are great and it's wonderful to start being able to converse with them in Korean as well as English. Today Hyun Ji, and Hwan Young came in and spent time watching with me. Jun Young made a few quick appearances as well.

A few things I forgot to mention yesterday, K-PACE is taking a senior trip to LA! They are going April 8-12th and are visiting the special needs program at UCLA. I kind of got pulled into helping plan their trip for them. I got here and they kept asking me about my buddy Matt Gates. Well I know him well, and admitted to it. After hearing this the K-PACE employees were all over me to email him and make sure that they get a visit to UCLA setup. This was out of left field to me, and trying to figure particulars out through the language barrier was rather difficult. I had no idea what was going on so I did my best to help. Matt did the hard part and made the introduction to the director of the UCLA program. I was able to decipher what they are trying to do with their trip, and get things squared away.

The second thing is something I'm excited to unveil! I am going to do a series of short interviews with the other RA's here. They will be in English, and have questions something along the lines of "What is life like growing up in Korea?" and "What are your impressions of the U.S.?" However I want as much viewer input as humanly possible. If any of you have any questions please post them in the comments so I can include them in the interview. I also plan on asking Alex's stream chat (probably the worst idea ever) on any questions they have. I think this could be a very interesting learning experience for all of us. Korean culture has been fascinating to me. Alex asked a question about KPop to one of the students today and I thought that was an excellent way to learn as well. Learning about their pop culture is a great way to see inside. Anyways, that's the plan folks! I'll be interviewing An Hyo Sang, YJS, and Heavy G as of now. I'll take other requests or ideas after that. I look forward to your input and thank you for reading! Tune in tomorrow for a recap on how church day #3 went!

Korean Word/Phrase of the Day: 잘자네 (Jal Ja Ne) This means Good Night, or Sweet Dreams!

TL:DR I'm in Korea.