Tag: expensive

Posted on by — 2 Comments

FoodieLand Night Market: Only For Foodies with Money to Spare

After purchasing my $7.00 ticket for the FoodieLand Night Market back in July, I spent the following weeks excited at the prospect of attending the “foodie inspired multi-cultural food and entertainment event.” Due to the excitement, I couldn’t even sleep well the night before the event!

FoodieLand Night Market in Berkeley, CA

FoodieLand Night Market is held at multiple locations throughout California. The event I was going to was the one in Berkeley, CA held at the Golden Gate Fields.

Golden Gate Fields is a horse racing track in Albany, CA/ west Berkeley, CA. The FoodieLand Night Market is NOT held in this building. It’s held further down in an open area.
Look for these red banners! You’ll get to the entrance if you follow the arrows.

The Golden Gate Fields overlooks the Bay and San Francisco. You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge 🌉:

The Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco seen from the Golden Gate Fields parking lot.

Beautiful scenery of the Bay.

I had purchased the ticket for the 1PM entry (the first entrance period), but came early just in case – arriving at around 12:40 PM. Even though it was 20 minutes before the event, there was a long line already. (But luckily the line moved along quickly and I was able to enter a few minutes after 1PM.)

The booths being set up.

Waiting in line. The red tents were where the inspections and security screenings were taking place. (Plus where you show your tickets to the event staff.)

Restrictions

As stated on their website, you can’t bring large backpacks or bags. Clear, see-through bags under 12 x 12 inches are allowed, along with strollers and small handbags. There was a detailed bag policy on the Cal Expo State Fair website for Sacramento’s FoodieLand Night Market event HERE, so I referred to it. But even when I brought a small clutch bag exactly 5 x 8 inches, the staff inspected what was inside my bag. And they did a body inspection, too. 🙁

So be prepared to have your bags inspected even if you meet the bag requirements.

More Restrictions

Per FoodieLand Night Market’s guidelines, tickets are available only via Eventbrite, and no pets are allowed (except for service animals). To check out the official website for the FoodieLand Night Market event held in Berkeley, CA from August 5th-7th, 2022 (the one I attended), click HERE. If you’re going to attend future FoodieLand Night Markets, make sure to look up the official website for the event you’ll be attending.

And there’s no re-entry.

The Event

Upon entering, I found myself surrounded by rows of booths after booths selling all kinds of food and drinks, like tacos, chicken, boba, tea, macarons, dim sums, ramen burgers, donuts, kettle corn, corn dogs, oysters, and even frog legs!

The actual booths from the event. Booths were EVERYWHERE.
It’s useful to refer to the vendor list & map they have on their official website.

I couldn’t wait to try all the food!

Cheesy waffle fries, famous garlic shrimps from Hawaii and food trucks!

Little did I know about the costs…

Delicious BUT Expensive

Having paid an entrance fee of $7.00, I thought the prices of the food/drink items would be from $5 to $10. Based on my past experiences at various events, I had NO idea that most of the items here would be about $20!

#1: Cheese Wheel Pasta (Black Truffle Cream Pasta – $28 <$30 with tax>)

My first booth – “Cheese Wheel Pasta from Italy.”

I decided to start off with “Cheese Wheel Pasta.” They sold basil pesto, bacon, garlic lobster, and black truffle cream pastas. I decided to get the black truffle cream pasta.

It was $28. With tax, it was a total of $30.

To be fair, their pasta was “imported from Italy,” “aged for 24 months,” “made with the freshest milk,” and made with “ingredients from the Provinces of Parma & Reggio Emilia.” But I did not expect the food to be this expensive at this foodie event.

Pasta being made on site.
Pasta being prepared. (Doused in sauce?)

And the thing was, they didn’t have the prices up for people to see. It was only after you get to the cashier and order the item that they tell you how much you have to pay.

But since the pasta was delicious and I had it for lunch, I thought it was worth it.

I mean, all the other booths would be much cheaper, right?

#2: Kusina ni Javen Jesel (Bone Marrow Tacos – $25)

Next, I went to the booth named “Kusina ni Javen Jesel.” They were selling Filipino infused food, including lumpia, empanada and bone marrow tacos.

The bone marrow tacos were $25.

Again, to be fair, bone marrow tacos have quite some meat to it. Plus, it tasted great.

The bone marrow tacos even had these sesame mochi ball things. It was delicious!

After two food items, I had already spent over $50. It hurt, but the food was great and I had faith that the other food & drinks were cheaper.

Boy was I wrong…

#3 – LemonTea Squeeze (Animal Jar Drinks – $25 with cash payment)

Having consumed pasta and tacos, I needed to drink something. Having read about cute animal jar drinks on the vendor list, I went over to the booth named “LemonTea Squeeze” to purchase one.

LemonTea Squeeze with free refills.

Again, the prices weren’t shown on the booth. It was only after waiting in line and reaching the cashier that I learned how much one animal drink cost.

It cost $25. Twenty-five bucks if I paid in cash, and $27 dollars (and I don’t remember the exact change) if I paid with my card.

But I was thirsty, had waited in line, and was swayed by the words “free refills.”

I purchased the $25 animal jar drink, with peach iced tea flavor.

After two items and one drink, I had spent about $80… It was too much, but since it was an “all you can drink” offer with this cute bear jar, I let it go.

The cute bear jar.

#4 – Churromania Bakery (Churro Sundae – $12, Churro – $5 each)

This FoodieLand Night Market was until 9:30 PM. It was around 3PM when my friends and I wanted to try more food. We wanted to try the Hawaiian Honey Cones aka the J-shaped ice cream. But they were, if I remember correctly, over $20 each! I don’t remember the exact cost, as we ended up not buying the expensive ice cream. But I do remember it being as expensive as the pasta/tacos/animal jar.

So we decided to settle for some churros & churro sundae at this booth called “Churromania Bakery.” Churros couldn’t be that expensive, right?

The line at Churromania Bakery, with a Churro figure standing outside.

The churro sundae was $12 and the churros cost $5 each. It was definitely overpriced, considering the fact that regular churros cost $1.50 to $2.00 each.

But as it was one of the cheaper food items (compared to the $20 ice cream!), we got the sundae and churros. And of course, we paid the $2.14 tax that was added.

The $12 churro sundae. (Single churros not shown in the photo.)

#5 – Big Baby Bottle (Small Baby Bottle – $27.56)

It was 4PM when my friends and I were sitting around in the table area unwilling to buy more food. Everything was overpriced. Maybe not everything, as we couldn’t check out all the booths and food trucks (which were, according to the website, over 150 in total.) But the ones that looked good and the ones we did get were all overpriced. And we were running out of money about halfway into the event. (The event closed at 9:30 PM.)

But before leaving the event for good (as re-entries were NOT allowed), we decided to try the baby bottles people were drinking from. We wanted to get the really big baby bottles, but we figured they would be outrageously expensive. So we decided to go for the smaller ones.

Again, no price shown on the banners. You find out later at the cashier.

When we got to the front of the line, we were told that the small bottles cost $25 in cash, $27.56 in card payment…

And I’m ashamed to say…

We got the small baby bottles…

The famous baby bottle. The small one cost as much as the Animal Jar.

Conclusion

The FoodieLand photobooth.

Though the event had a ton of great booths, I regret attending the event. Most of the food and drink items were overpriced. I regret getting the small Baby Bottle. And I regret purchasing the Bear Jar, because the thing leaked really easily. My phone got wet with the peach iced tea that leaked out, and now I have a broken iPhone.

Other people might have had a great time at the FoodieLand Night Market. I personally regret attending it. I’m broke and phoneless after the event. (Beware: the cute animal jar leaks!)

In my opinion, FoodieLand Night Market is a great event ONLY for foodies with money to spare. It’s fun ONLY if you can afford everything without worrying about it afterwards.

Heading back home, with the expensive FoodieLand Night Market behind. We couldn’t even stay until the end – we ran out of money around 4PM.

P.S. There were also live performances and game booths. I do NOT recommend the game booths, especially this one selling giant Pokemons:

Because it’s IMPOSSIBLE to win the game. You need to throw the ball, hit this board, and have it fall into this basket. The man in charge of the booth does it well BECAUSE of where he is standing. From where you are required to stand, it’s impossible. ☹ I’ve seen everyone fail, including myself.

P.P.S. If you DO decide to attend the FoodieLand event but you are NOT a foodie with money to spare, I suggest that you eat just 1-2 food/drink items and purchase products instead.

From my experience, it’s just WAY more cost effective. Instead of spending $20 on a single food/drink item, you can purchase a plushie/keychain/succulent/K-pop merchandise or some other stuff that you can bring home as a souvenir.

There was this cute keychain shop called “Cloris Creates” that I couldn’t buy from because I ran out of money. They had key chains of different breeds of dogs, cats, bunnies, parrots and reptiles! Plus, I recommend this cute succulent shop that I THINK was called “Juliet’s Succulent Garden.” I didn’t have money left to buy anything from them, but they had really cute succulent keychains & more.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Applying to EPIK: Not So Epic Experience (Part III – The Questions)

The EPIK Interview

My EPIK interview via Zoom finally took place on Friday, September 17th. But my EPIK coordinator had trouble with Internet connection that day too, so his screen was pitch-black. Hence, I had my interview without seeing him, only hearing his voice. It wasn’t ideal, but regardless, I was grateful to just proceed with the interview at this point. Some of the first questions I was asked were:

– Why EPIK?

– How do you feel about having a co-teacher?

– What kind of teaching experience do you have?

– What is your 5 year plan?

The What-If Questions

Photo by Mathew Schwartz.

Throughout the interview, my interviewer asked me many “what-if” questions. Some of the “what-if” EPIK questions I remember are: “What would you do if…

  • …your co-teacher gave you more work than was needed?
  • …your co-teacher was teaching something wrong?
  • …you don’t work well with your co-teacher(s)?
  • …the housing you were provided with lacked certain amenities/appliances?
  • …the school’s class schedule changed suddenly?

The Lesson Demo

Now, I had an easy time answering all the questions, because they were all similar to the old EPIK questions asked to previous EPIK applicants. (Except for the ones about housing and class schedule). And I had prepared extensively, writing down the answers to about 40 potential questions I had compiled and practicing answering them repeatedly. In fact, towards the end of the interview, I wished the EPIK coordinator would ask me more questions, as I had my answers all ready.

But there was this section in the interview that wasn’t mentioned by the previous EPIK applicants on YouTube. It was only talked about quite recently in the Spring 2022 EPIK Kakao chatroom, when someone who had her interview earlier shared briefly that she had to do a lesson demo. Thanks to her information, I pulled out the lesson materials I had created beforehand. But to my surprise, the EPIK coordinator chose a random topic for me. He assigned me the topic of weather (if I remember correctly) and gave me some time (I think it was 5 or 10 minutes) to prepare. Afterwards, I had to pretend like I was teaching a class for 5 minutes on the designated topic.

Because I had this wonderful teaching material prepared already (I had created it for fun over the summer while waiting for the Spring 2022 application to open), I asked politely if I could use a topic of my choosing, mentioning the PowerPoint presentation I had prepared. My coordinator allowed me to proceed with my materials, and I presented my lesson demo without the given preparation time. I thought I did a great job, since I received much positive feedback on my demo lesson.

Photo by Mathew Schwartz.

The Interview Ends

My EPIK coordinator was Jeffrey, and he provided me with much useful information about the program. Each time I answered a question, he gave me feedback (which were all positive), along with additional tips for becoming a successful EPIK teacher. He told me to maintain the positive, friendly personality that I displayed, as it was crucial to be outgoing during the first weeks at the Korean school(s) I would be assigned to. And for lessons, he suggested that I narrow down my English expressions to just one, and utilize as many hand gestures as I can while teaching (clapping, thumbs up, etc.)

My EPIK interview ended after about 40 minutes. I had much fun showcasing my abilities and potential to becoming a good EPIK teacher.

The Awaited Email & The Result

I had heard from a fellow applicant in the Kakao chatroom that he heard back from EPIK just 4 days after his interview. But my wait time was longer, as the Friday I had my interview was interestingly right before Korea’s three-day national holiday, Chuseok. So I did not hear back from EPIK until a week later, on a Friday afternoon.

I had my CRC ready to submit, a 180 hour TEFL Certificate, B.A. from one of the best universities in the U.S., 2 solid recommendation letters, and a 2 year professional experience. I had made it as far as the EPIK interview, during which I had shown my competencies and received positive feedback.

My heart was pounding in excitement. I paused a moment before opening the email to calm down a little.

This was it….!

Snapshot of the email from EPIK.

I clicked and saw the following words:

Dear EPIK Applicant,

Thank you for your application to the EPIK Program, Korea’s government-operated native-English teacher selection program for public schools.

After taking time to fully consider your application, we regret to inform you that your application has not been selected to proceed forward for EPIK’s Spring 2022 term.

– The EPIK Team –

The email goes on for a couple more paragraphs, explaining that this term was “particularly competitive,” and that the decision is a reflection of my suitability for the term. It is “not necessarily a reflection of [my] ability or qualifications as a teacher.” Plus it kindly states that the decision is final, and that EPIK is “unable to release any information related to the reasons for this decision and will not reply to inquiries of that nature.”

Yes, reader. I was not selected. And I’ll never know why. (Photo by Matthew Henry).

That was my experience applying to EPIK. There were frequent changes which were often not properly announced beforehand. Plus, I spent $182 on documents no longer needed for the initial application. And since I did not get selected in the final round… Now I have an apostilled national level criminal record check just lying around on my desk.

Conclusion

My experience with EPIK was exceptionally expensive and definitely not so epic. But on the brighter side, I will no longer have to spend more money shipping my documents across the Pacific. Neither will I have to cover the costs of mandatory quarantine. The 1.4 to 2.1 million KRW (~1,178 to 1,768 USD), as stated by EPIK, will NOT be covered by the program.

I know that God has better plans for me, so I am no longer disappointed by the result. But I will miss the prospect of teaching and traveling abroad, of meeting new people and exploring South Korea for an entire year.

Alas, I will miss the path not taken.

Photo by Soyoung Han.

P.S. For anyone planning on applying to EPIK, here are some great resources to refer to:

1) As mentioned in my previous post (HERE), be sure to check out YouTubers who’ve gone through the EPIK process. It’s really helpful to hear their experiences as well as the EPIK questions they were asked.

2) Check out bloggers who share their EPIK experiences! Some great blogs I came across are ariography and Korealizations. Ariography’s EPIK interview content is from 2018 and Korealizations’s from 2014, but they are still relevant and useful. The only thing I’d add is that as of 2021, there is an on-the-spot lesson demo. Plus the interview is via Zoom, not Skype. (And, of course, there was that CRC requirement (read about it HERE) that was cancelled in September. Hopefully EPIK doesn’t bring that back again!)