I’m hanging out here at Krispy Kreme enjoying my time off. Generally, I don’t do vacation time very well at all. This time is different. I guess I really needed this short break.

As I said last night (sadly it seems I can type faster on my iPod than on my spacebar-less laptop) my stuff is in Daejon. I’ll end up staying in a hotel there for a few days until my bed is delivered (Kathryn + floor = pain). I start teaching on monday.

Today, I bought myself a Korean cookbook. I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes. I love Korean food, so it should be fun. There are a few recipes I want to have my dad try to make for my grandma. She would probably enjoy some of the zucchini ones.

I’ll end by saying the WordPress app for the iPod touch/iPhone is great. Who knew sitting, drinking tea, and blogging could be such a great combination!!

So I’m sitting here in my hotel room in Ulsan.  I finished at Little Campus yesterday.  There were only a few tears.  My stuff has arrived in my apartment  in Daejon.  The cats are being boarded at the vet’s office.  I’ll move up to Daejon this weekend.  I start teaching at my new school on Monday.

I plan on relaxing the best I can over the next few days.  I’m looking forward to meeting the students and staff at Maple Square.   I’m also looking forward to exploring Daejon.  It sounds like a neat place.

Sorry this is so short.  I’m on my laptop which is lacking a space bar.

How to describe it?  Cheesey.  Noodley.  Fishy.  Chewy.  Spicy.  Yup.  That pretty much sums it up.  My version of this is a somewhat modified version of this recipe I found on the net.

It’s a pretty easy dish to make.  One pot and a plate to serve is all it takes.  Start by gathering your ingredients (the brown sugar is missing from this picture because I forgot about it).

Here are some better views of everything…

Start by turning on the stove to low.  Addi about 1.5 cups of water to a saucepan.  To that, add about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and 3 tablespoons of gochujang.  I also (sometimes, not always) add a bit of garlic and some salt.  I use a whisk to mix it all together as the gochujang is kind of sticky.

Then add your noodles.  Here in Korea we can buy raman noodles without any sort of seasoning packet.  They’re about half the price of the other kind.

Cut your odang into bit size chunks.

And add it to the pot.

Stir and then add your dduk.

Let cook until the ramen is done.  Stir every minute or so to keep it from sticking to the pot.  The ramen cooks fast, this should only take a few minutes.

Then dump your cheese on top.  This is completely optional, but ever so yummy.

Stir and dish out.

Believe me when I say it… This makes enough for 3-4 people/servings.  It can be reheated.  Don’t try to eat it cold.  Cold dduk is like trying to eat a very gummy rock.  The microwave works well to reheat.  I’ve never tried to reheat on the stove.  You could probably make a bit of just the sauce and then dump the leftover rabokki in to reheat.

OK.  Here’s the deal.  I was just offered a job in Daejeon.  I think this is the one.  The director’s teaching philosophy meshes quite well with mine.  I think she has a great kindergarten program.  She’s willing to work with my schedule (I finish here the beginning of July but she doesn’t really need me until the beginning of August).  Daejeon seems like a pretty cool city.  It’s known as the Silicon Valley of Korea.  That’s right up my ally (even though I wouldn’t be able to really take advantage of it).

Once I get some more details, I’ll update again.

I’m so excited.

This basically speaks for itself.  I laughed so hard, tears started rolling down my face…