Sarah's Work in Progress: May 2021

Have you ever heard of Eurovision? Maybe if you've seen the Netflix movie The Story of Fire Saga. But did you know it is how ABBA made it big? They won the contest in 1974. And Celine Dion - she won in 1988. Think American Idol but with each contestant/group representing a country in Europe. And they go all out in their performances!

This year I found out that Peacock.tv was carrying Eurovision LIVE! So we joined up on the 18th of May to watch the first round of semi-finals. We missed the second round on the 20th but watched the entire finals on the 22nd - so exciting!! I won't give away who wins, but I will say that it was a lot of fun. We also made it educational by finding the countries on a map, and some of the jury votes went along with their country connections, so we could talk about those international relationships.

We were super excited to study North and South Korea because my husband lived in South Korea for two years while serving a mission for our church, so he had a lot of fun memories that he could share with us. He spent most of his time in Seoul except for five months he was in Donghae. He even had a chance to visit the DMZ!

Video List

Geography Now! North Korea (DPRK): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00QUYoZHnH8 - the video host Barby recommends that you watch the North Korea video before watching the South Korea video
Geography Now! South Korea (ROK): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTK119W8MBA
The difference between North & South Korea (Geography Now!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMKu8WZ3FGc
Flag/Fan Friday North Korea (Geography Now!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiL0u00nMzI
Flag/Fan Friday South Korea (Geography Now!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYvM-zEBkHA&t=2s
11 Things NOT to do in South Korea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALW-To76E44&ab_channel=CalMcKinley - highlights interesting cultural differences
15 Incredible Must Eats in Seoul: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWPy6r8iXiE&ab_channel=TheTravelIntern - some of the dishes (like the lemon tart or egg toast) don't seem particularly Korean, but it all looks delicious!
Top 10 Beautiful Places to Visit in South Korea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1OMF_fDBDo&ab_channel=KNews - descriptions of these locations also include references to their use in famous Korean dramas

We had a LOT of fun with the food and snacks!

First, we ordered a Korean snack pack off of Amazon. We split everything six ways, so you don't get a lot of any one thing, but it still took us a few days to get through it all. The biggest hits were the Milkis, the Crown Sando cream cookies, and the rice senbei crackers.

Next we found a Korean Market here in San Antonio. My husband Dave picked up more Milkis and Crown Sando cookies, of course, but also Pocari Sweat (a sports drink that is actually Japanese, but that my husband had while in Korea), Aloe Dream (so so yummy!), a red bean bun, and fresh kimchi.

To top it all off, my husband made bulgogi! He used a spicy pork bulgogi recipe but substituted chicken instead of pork. It was spicy, but not so much that my kids couldn't eat it. It was so delicious, I requested it again for Mother's Day!