Dog Penis

Update: I orginally misspelled 개불 (gay-bool). I corrected that and changed the picture of gay-bool.

Today, I went to the festival at Jisepo Middle School. They played various games in the morning. Then, after lunch, we went to the Geoje Performing Arts Center that played host to a school-wide talent show. It was great fun. Students sang, danced, performed skits, and gave English speeches.


I have to say, I have developed a new appreciation for break dancing. These kids--aged 12-14 were really amazing. I think break dancing died in America because it was so tied to cheesy music back in the 80s.

After the festival, I went with the other teachers to a a seafood restaurant. Most of the foods were raw. I ate several raw fish, sea cucumber (was like chewing slimy rubber), shellfish--including abalone and oysters, and finally a dish called 개불 "gay-bool" (Friel Romanization). It was still moving! Gay-bool looks to me like a large blood vessel maybe chopped into inch-long sections. Again, they were still moving around. They also could maybe be compared to a big hollow worm.

The picture on the right is sea cucumber (top left) and gay-bool (center).

Anyway, so these peices were still moving. After some hesitation, I tried one. It wasn't bad at all. I learned the name repeated it several time. I asked what they were and it was explained that they were worms from the ocean. I was fine with that. Then, I learned what gay-buol means. I already knew "gay" to mean dog, but I didn't initially connect the two. Then, one of the Korea English teacher explained that "bool" means penis. The name of this sea worm was literally "dog penis." I looked at the dish in a completely different light. Come to think of it, it kind of did look like a dog penis.

I had a couple more tastes--trying not to think of the true meaning for its name of course. One piece of gay-bool that was not eaten, wriggled through the entire meal--nearly an hour and half.

External Links:
More pictures from the festival