Housewarming

Since we moved into a new apartment, our coworkers have been eager to see it.  So we had a housewarming party today.  They requested that "authentic American" sandwiches be served.  We had chicken with mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, and cheese served with chips.  I whipped up some of the easiest tomato soup ever to serve with our grilled ham and cheese. We were worried that it might not be enough, so we also had some bulgogi pizza (kinda like sausage) and some sweet potato, pineapple, ham pizza (Hawaii meets Central America?).  I am not sure if we will ever have this as a menu for a party in America, but when in Korea, do as the Koreans ask of you.  (I almost forgot this part: for beverages we had 2 liters of water, 2 liters of coke, and a full coffee pot (10 cups maybe).  After the 20 people came, ate, and drank, we had lots of left overs!  I feel like 4 or 5 people can take care of a 2 liter in America.)

Today was a school Saturday (meaning that everyone has to go to school from 8:30 - 12:30, everyone except the foreigner that is).  Then our co-teachers and co-workers all caravaned to our new apartment.  My amazing husband and I spent the morning preparing food, cleaning, running last minute errands etc.  I did a super quick sweep of the floor right before they started arriving, I am so glad that I did :)

Time out for a Korean culture lesson:  In Korea, there are no little clusters of people chit chatting it up at social gatherings.  There are no people standing up or sitting on a few chairs.  When Koreans go to a social gathering, it usually ends up with everyone sitting on the floor in a big circle (if there are enough chairs then we sit in chairs).

So all 20 of us sat on the floor in a circle.  Forgetting that we were in Korea, we had set up a buffet line with plates, sandwiches, chips, pizza, drinks etc.  When we said, "let's eat" the Koreans stood up, took everything off the table, put it in the middle of the circle and started eating.

I did not have a chance to take many pictures, but here are two for you.

All 20 of them wanted to sit in the same room

so it was a bit crowded

After we finished eating, our coworkers asked us to sing a song (??). I guess there is a housewarming song to sing in Korea.  So they sang it to us.  Then they all got up and left (at the same time).

Since I forgot to take pictures during the festivities, I will leave you with these pictures (things we got as housewarming gifts):

Korean Grapes.  They are huge.  I could say a lot about grapes in Korea.  I will refrain:

We got a grow your own tomato plant from Nikki.  I guess you just add water and it grows.

Maybe we will have tomatoes to eat this winter?  

This is the typical housewarming gift in Korea. We now have over 45 rolls of TP, if you live in Korea and need some TP, let us know.

A kleenex box cover from the Kim/Cho family.  How sweet are they?  Mr. Kim's wife hand made it for us.

She used hanji (Korean traditional paper) to make this

A stand up full length mirror!   We have been wanting to get one for quite a while.  Woohoo!

And we got this super cute rug from the Waygooken Housewife.  She did not come to the party, but it was still a housewarming gift.  I love the colors - exactly what I would have picked!

She made this for us.  How sweet is that?

This has nothing to do with the rest of the post, BUT while at Costco this past week, we somewhat impulsively bought a crock pot!  YEAH!!!!!  So please, start sharing your favorite crock pot recipes :)