아침 식사 إفطار อาหารเช้า gosaria завтрак საუზმე reggeli 朝食 hommikusöök 早餐 नाश्ता

In the English language, are there words that are more exciting than "LET'S EAT BREAKFAST!"? I don't think that question mark is really necessary, because everyone knows the answer. Of course there are no words that are more exciting or make a person happier. Breakfast! Even as I write this, the very mention of it brings to mind pancakes! bacon! cheesy scrambled eggs! french toast! strawberry waffles! eggs benedict! hash browns! my mom's so delicious they seem unreal biscuits with jam! coffee! cinnamon rolls! sausage! omelettes! Lucky Charms! donuts! lotus simmered in soy sauce! rice! cold noodles! kimchi! seaweed! clear soup! Oh, Korea, where do I begin to explain everything that is wrong with "breakfast" here?

I am living in a country where I am not only illiterate (aside from being able to read\write the word "kim"), but my speaking is also limited to 13 words/phrases (hi, bye, thank you, one, two, stop here, right, go straight, jealous, American, water, yes, no). Needless to say, navigating the bus/train schedules can be a bit of a challenge. So I have found the organized trips through meetup.com and other such groups to be a great way to get out of Seoul, and do things that I otherwise would not have been able to. I've gone on several of those trips, most recently this past weekend, skiing at Phoenix Park on the east coast of the SoKo. Usually these trips depart early in the morning, so a breakfast stop at a Korean travel plaza along the way is always a given. Under normal circumstances, by that I mean in the US, truck stop breakfast is food fit for royalty. It's delicious, cheap, filling, and sometimes makes the consumer feel a bit nauseous due to the questionable sanitation and food quality of your average truck stop. What more could a traveler ask for? Truck stops in Korea are not like that. There is not a hash brown or a chunk of margarine melting between two pieces of unevenly toasted bread to be found. If you want cold noodles or seaweed/octopus soup, head down the highway in Korea and stop at any travel plaza along the way. There is no need to worry about time, because like American truck stops, breakfast is served all day, unlike American truck stops, that is because the exact same menu is used for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I got lucky on this last trip though. Usually my breakfast while traveling is a boiled egg, or a hot dog on a stick, the closest things I can find to western breakfast. We stopped at a truck stop, and one of the menu items was a "ham toast" which was bread-mayo-ham-ketchup-egg like substance with carrots (or maybe squid, I am never sure) and onions-bread, then put on the griddle and cooked like a grilled cheese. For breakfast in Korea, it was pretty ok.

Why Korea has never jumped on that tasty breakfast train will forever be a mystery to me. Although I consider myself to be the president of the breakfast fan club, so maybe I am biased.

In other happenings...PHILIPPINES tomorrow. 85 degrees, here I come.

Since Christmas I've been taking mad amounts of vitamin C, and eating citrus fruits like popcorn. However, it was no match for these Korean super germs. I fought it as long as I could and actually spent 4 weeks cold free which is a record for me here, but in the end, my immune system lost the battle. I went to the doctor today. I am not exaggerating when I say in Korea, I've been sick more than I've been healthy. Until today, I'd not been to the doctor for it. So, drugs! Fingers crossed that at least one of the 6 different pills Dr. Yoon prescribed to me will work.

Winter concert is over. As adorable as my kiddies were singing, I can't say I'm overly sad about it being done. I haven't had 'Banana Phone' stuck in my head once in the past 5 days. Awesome.

February is my 9th month in Korea. Whoa baby whoa.