I Got Worms....Excuse me? That's what we're gonna call it...

So today was the day we went on a tour of Seoul with Holt (the agency here Bethany Christian Services works with). We saw a palace - the last king/emperor died there. It was quite interesting. Then we had a bunch of traditional Korean food and the guides guided us through it. The Bibimbap was wonderful. I have pictures/video of everything I tried, so I can tell those of you who are actually interested at a different time.

HOWEVER I know you all will be interested in the following story: For those of you who are squeamish - this has nothing to do with blood or bodily fluids or needles, but it is nonetheless GROSS, so beware.

We went to a popular outside market (there are a few of them here). We got a few gifts there. You can barter and it's extremely difficult for me, but Todd is AWESOME at it. Given his peaceful nature, it kind of goes against the grain, but he has a will of iron and if he doesn't get a price, he just leaves. We had a few "shop" owners chase after us. One guy just shook his head. I don't think he's run into too many Dutchmen.

Anyway, they have some interesting things to eat that we're not sure what they are. They're like little kiosks cooking food - some really great smelling, and others awful smelling. One good smelling thing was a pig's face. It was hard to distinguish exactly what it was, so I asked and then the lady whipped out a snout and a forehead and started slicing it up and showed me. I was like, "Oh, gotcha." She laughed and I think it translated well.

I asked the Holt tour guides if there is anything I should definitely try either for tastiness or for the experience. I eventually figured out that the "clean hotdogs" as Audrey calls them, that she eats for breakfast every day are actually something to do with an ox tail. Not sure how that all plays in together, but I'm not eating it, and she loves them, so I don't really care. Anyway, they told me of a few things to stay away from and a few things to try. Once we got to the market, they saw a kiosk of food and said, "Oh if you want experience, try this, but it's really gross." Here is the picture:

Wanna know what it is?

Silk Worms.

Apparently, according to one of the guides, he used to eat the little worms at amusement parks when he was little. He said that these big ones, however, are really nasty. And here is a picture of me and Todd trying it and the aftermath of Audrey trying one. Audrey didn't want to try it at first, but she wanted one of the tour guides to try it, so I said, "If she tries it, will you?" and Audrey agreed. She said, "Yucky!" but she was a trooper and swallowed it! Todd was concerned as she was on his shoulders. We've been telling her she's not allowed to say anything is yucky in front of people if she eats it because it's rude, but she may say, "No thank you." She's been awesome and has tried everything. Some things she says, "No thank you," and others, like the "clean hotdogs," she's all about. After she said it was, "Yucky," we told her she may say that as often and as loud as she wishes about the silk worms. They give them to you in a large dixie cup with toothpicks to eat them. Haha! I just realized that apparently when I go across an ocean to a different country I eat worms! I ate them in Spain (unintentionally) and I ate them in South Korea (under coersion). :) I haven't had a worm in a tequila drink in Mexico, so I guess I'm safe in that country.