A Most Peculiar Friday Night

I am certainly the last person who would have predicted that a Friday night in which I do not go Out On The Town would be atypical in my life, but as it turns out, it is. I've slowed down since Christmas, but until then, every Friday was dancing night. As it had been snowing since I walked to work on Friday morning, I thought I would have a rare Friday night in. But it being KT's last day in Prague and Nicole's last weekend before she started her farming adventure, I was coaxed into going to Nicole's flat for a soup dinner.

While you may think that Central Europe would get a lot of snow, this much is really uncommon here. It had only been snowing since 8am, but by four in the afternoon, the trains were a mess. I caught what I think was the 2:26 train at nearly 4 o'clock. When KT was convincing me to take the journey to Prague, I was so adamant that there was blizzard outside and she was being completely unreasonable. She kept telling me it was just a little snow. When I got to Prague, I realized that the reason she kept saying it was just a little snow was that... it was... in Prague. We were certainly getting much more snow in Kolín than Prague was getting.


I'm kind of sad that this is no longer a typical Friday night in my life. Hangin' out on couches, poking each other in the eyes with our toes. That's one of the downfalls of living out in the 'burbs--every time I come into the city, it's for something big, not for casual hang-out-time.


There aren't two people in the world with whom I enjoy casual hang out time more than KT and Nicole. Let's spoon on the couch, okay? 'Kay!

But as the evening progressed, I began to feel more and more sick. Spending hours outside in the cold is starting to get to my immune system, it seems. Between that and the fact that I don't trust CD (the Czech rail system) to get me home late at night during a blizzard, I decided to call it a night early. I headed back to Hlavni Nadraži where I found most trains to be delayed at least 70 minutes. The train I got took nearly twice as long as usual. But eventually, I made it back to Kolín...

...where Rasputin was waiting for me. As was a long, unplowed, snowy walk home.

But the snow clinging to my window (okno, neuter) made it all worthwhile! And it continued to snow for two more days. So look forward to pictures of my town after a snow storm with accumulation totaling more than the past three winters combined! Hurá!

Chapter Twenty: Halloween with the adults

Welcome to Halloween with the adults! We went out to a brewery that is popular with Westerners and Koreans alike. There were actually a lot of people dressed in costumes and it was great. The best part was the Filipino band dressed as the X-Men doing a lot of 80's and 90's American pop music. You just can't make this stuff up. And again, video! Again, very loud. It'll take a few seconds to figure out what's going on, but once you do, it's amazing.

A friend of Dini's dressed as Samuel L. Jackson, ala Pulp Fiction.

Mario and the pirate outside of school.

As a team, we are totally freakin' badass. Or... baaaahdass. I really wanted to call this "One Baaaahdass Mutha-fuckin' Halloween."

Time for dancin'!

Guns blazin'.

The fake 'stashes were passed around quite a bit. Clearly, I had to wear one and look thoughtful.

Nicole and Dini, planning their next bank job.

Mario... after a few too many. (But not really, just playing with the stashes)

Everyone really wanted to take pictures with Arthur. I mean, at least twenty people asked him to take pictures. I loooove this little Korean kid doing a Mario pose.


And Nicole is such a kindergarten teacher that, of course, she finds little kids to dance with instead of adults. I followed suit quickly.

These photos all come from Nicole who has a much better way with a digital camera:
The whole gang at our table. We were one of the largest groups of people together in costume!

More stash.

According to Nicole, Mario is jumping to punch an invisible block. I agree.
Arthur and I have the moves. The thing about these photos is that I don't think I even realized we were dancing like that. And we didn't stop for a pose, Nicole is just that good.

Doin' the shopping cart?

I am so sad that I was at the bathroom and missed this moment.

We're so bad... or maybe just tired.

Wait no, we are bad.

Baaaaahd. (No Mom, I didn't take up smoking, it was just necessary for the photo).

Lining up for the costume contest. The whole place was cheering for Mario, but they awarded prizes to people with simple witch hats. Laaaaaame.

This was definitely the best Halloween in Korea I could have asked for.

Chapter Five: In Which We Barbecue!

Last night we had one of our "traditional" Korean barbecues.

While our barbecue differs greatly from a typical one (with charcoal and a real grill) or one in a restaurant (with a barbecue pit and hood), it is still our own little slice of Korean culture.
This is our grill, a small little propane fire with a nonstick griddle on top. We bring straw mats up to the roof, spread them out, put the table on, set up the grill, and all the other necessities. Above is the grill with traditional barbecue cut meat. I believe that this is brisket. We don't marinate our meat before we cook it, and instead, dip it in sauce after it is cooked. The sauce actually isn't soy based, but sesame and garlic. If I were to do a step by step, and I am, above would be "Step 1: put meat on grill."

Step 2: Sprinkle with garlic salt.
Also on the grill we have some potatoes (not sure if this is traditional or just Dinny wanting them) and some kimchi (traditional side served in Korea for breakfast, lunch, and dinner made of various pickled vegetables and a lot of red pepper).

Step 3: Poke it around.
But only flip the meat once! Once it has cooked, cut it up with some scissors to make it more manageable in size. In this shot, you can also see most of the things that go into the barbecue: rice, red pepper paste, sesame dipping sauce, shredded semi-pickled onion, kimchi, cucumber, and mu (no idea how to spell it) which is a pickled radish.

Step 4: Admire and eat some side dishes.

Step 5: Now that the meat is ready, grab some prepared lettuce. Lettuce in Korea generally comes pre-cut and arranged for easy barbecuing. The leaves are stacked like paper. Grab one piece of lettuce, maybe top it with a piece of sesame leaf.

Step 6: Add the mu, dipped meat, maybe some rice...

Step 7: Eat!

Step 8: Relax, it's Friday night barbecue!

Step 9: Have a beer.

Thanks to Arthur for being my barbecue model!

Coming up next week:
Chapter Six: In Which We Examine Artwork or Hilarious Illustrations by Children

And:
Chapter Seven: In Which We Go on a Field Trip

For more information on Korean Barbecue, check out some Do's and Don'ts.
Also, there's always the Wikipedia site on Korean Cuisine.