WHAT AM I DOING IN KOREA?!?

while here in daejeon, i’ve been terrified to eat anything super traditionally korean.  one, going into the restaurants is intimidating, especially when you’re a foreigner flying solo such as myself.  two, the food scares me.  i figured if it tasted anything like the way it smelled, i’d be puking all over the place.  but today, i ate it.  i feel triumphant.

today was my first day of teaching (crazy.  3 kindergarten classes followed by 4 english classes for older children.  rooms full of boisterous korean children.  tiring, stressing, and way amusing.  the end).  there’s a cook that comes in and makes lunch for the kindergarteners and the teachers around 12.  she made this soup with fish flavored strips (i know…), some rice, some kimchi, potatoes, and fried eggs.  i put a little bit of everything on my plate and cleared it off.  the fish soup kind of smelled like rotting seafood, but its flavor was passable.  my coworker had warned me that the cook’s kimchi was gross, but when i tried it, i was surprised to find that it too was edible.  this was a surprise because i always hear about how kimchi is an acquired taste.  admiteddly, i won’t be craving the stuff at 2 AM anytime soon, but it was ok.  the potatoes were delicious, and the fried egg was just how i like them (salty with the yolk broken and cooked so hard it’s like rubber).

then, brandy, the cutest, funniest korean girl you will ever meet insisted on ordering another pizza around 4.  this one was western style.  i had one small piece, because i wasn’t hungry, but i never turn down pizza.

then the director’s wife decided that she wanted to take us all out to eat because my coworker’s sister was in town.  around 7, the entire wonderland school staff piled up into two cars and we went off for shabu shabu.  according to lonely planet’s korean food guide, shabu shabu is beef and noodle casserole.  definitely not what i observed.

we showed up, took our shoes off at the door, and sat down on the floor around a table with gas burners and pots full of broth on them.  a woman came over and turned on the burners, causing the broth to boil.  then, she brought plates covered in squid, clams, shrimp, different mushrooms, leafy greens, and beef and placed them on the table.  brandy loaded up one of the pots with the seafood, mushrooms, and greens, knowing that i don’t eat beef.  the stuff boiled until it cooked, and brandy served everyone their food.  all of it was a+.  then, once we were almost done eating that, the woman brought giant bowls of noodles, which brandy threw into the pot and served once it was cooked.  that was even better than the noodles.  at one point i looked over and realized that the woman running the restaurant had dropped off bowls fulled with rice covered in dried seaweed (which i have never been able to stand) with a raw egg cracked on top of it.  once we were finishing our noodles, the woman came over, drained most of the broth out of our pots, and threw the rice, seaweed, and egg mixture into the pots.  she cooked it all until it had a thick, risotto-like texture, and we ate it.  even than was good.  i think the koreans were all surprised that i liked everything.  brandy kept saying i was really a korean.  not at all…but it was really good.

and watching brandy eat bowl after bowl of noodles, seafood, beef and rice AND going back for seconds on everything was kind of amazing.  i mean, she’s small.

after dinner, my coworkers and i were all talking about our students and laughing at their quirks, and out of knowhere i thought to myself “holy shit.  i’m sitting on the floor of a restaurant digesting squid and kimchi in the middle of korea with 10 people i didn’t even know existed 5 days ago,and i’m having a blast.  am i the most awesome person out there or what?”

no what about it.  i’m the coolest.

and now you know about my first experience in a korean restaurant eating korean food.

the kids at school wore me out, and the korean beer at dinner made my limbs feel very heavy.  time to smoke a cigarette, get into bed, and either fall asleep or watch a movie.