nuclear power plant & ajima lunch

So my friend works at a nuclear power plant. She and another foreigner teach English to people that work there in one week courses. They only work 17 weeks out of the year, but they are required to be at the power plant 9am-5pm Monday through Friday for face time regardless, which can definitely get crazy. With absolutely nothing to do so much of the time, the whole setup was rather baffling to me, but it's really good money which is awesome.

 

The campus is huge of course, and very beautiful. There is a nuclear grad school there too. My friend only has clearance to be in the educational campus, not the whole area, so we didn't get to see any crazy Homer Simpson stuff. The bathrooms are kind of nuts though. The motion sensors turn on soothing music when you come in the the toilets are crazy high tech; they have heated seats and remote controls!

 

We mostly hung out in the employee lounge all morning. The "ajimas" (old ladies) that clean seem to hang out in there watching soap operas all day as well. Then her boss took us to an energy museum her company built for the town, along with a large community center. Most things were in Korean of course so I could not read, but it was actually a very cool museum.

After that, her boss took us to an ajima's for lunch. This woman basically has a restaurant set up in her home. You drive up to her house and the back has a room that she uses as the dining room. You must call her beforehand to let her know you are coming and she needs at least an hour's notice, if she doesn't feel like cooking she says no. The food she made us was absolutely amazing. My friend said it was one of the best meals she has had in Korea.

This was the first place I'd been where you sit on the ground. I haven't heard of the Chinese doing this, but apparently it is typical in Korea. They have heated floors though, just like the Chinese, so it's not bad at all. Plus you sit on little cushions.

Yep Mom, that's an anchovy. And I ate it.