A Hoosier in Korea: A Return to Insadong

The weather here has turned absolutely beautiful. It is hot, but the warm summer nights are exactly what I dreamed of as a young Hoosier wanting to live in a big city. The night life is buzzing, the restaurants are amazing, and I feel the need to roam.


Even in the summer Korean cuisine offers many soups.

All for roughly $8

Last Wednesday (July 20th) I felt the urge to return to Insadong. I had a tea date with a friend set up for Saturday, so suddenly I was on a tea kick. Insadong is the place for tea having many traditional tea houses. This is also a good place to shop for Korean tea sets.

I used to think herbal teas were sort of pretentious. I still do somewhat, but I am discovering their social value here. The five flavor tea is exactly that. It activates the five different tastes at different times. Interesting but not my favorite.

Iced pomegranate tea is my favorite for hot days. I'm going to try to brew some soon. My friend on Saturday helped me choose a tea set. Koreans are way too kind. She liked the ones I liked but there were clearly some she preferred over others.

"Oh...nice. Very... plain and ...simple," she says with a forced smile.

"How about this?"

"Yes, I like that."