Storytime

Alright, I have been really busy. Meg still does not have an Internet connection in her apartment and I do not have a computer, so I have not had as many chances to post as I would like. I love the first round of comments, keep them up. I think I am going to continue to tell stories. This should be a more interesting way to keep everyone up to date. Here is a generic update: This is now our sixth day in Korea, it is hot, it is more humid than Missouri, Rainy Season is starting, and Koreans love foreigners (so far).

Kimchi is a staple of Korean food. It is fermented cabbage that is 90% of the time served cold. It is alright and it seems to vary quite a bit. It packs a nice little spice punch. Like Americans, Koreans love their meat. My diet was probably composed of at least 60% meat, so this is a good thing for me.

Last Saturday, Meg and I met up with Zach at Itaweon. Zach is a veteran of Korean teaching and knows the ropes of the city. He took charge and ordered the meal for eight guests. It was pretty impressive. The meal was full of good sides like a corn type salad, a vinegar based salad, a cooked squid dish, kimchi, and others. What Zach ordered as the main course was pig intestines. So the main dishes I had were pig intestines* and squid. Yeah, I guess you can say I have arrived in Korea.

*Pig intestines taste like a combination of pork chop and bacon, or like a fatty pork chop. I must say that was one of the best meals that I have had in a while.

That night was also my first experience with soju. Soju, an essential part to any Koreans diet, is actually as cheap as water! It is rice wine that is 40 proof. Its alright, but I am afraid it could do some damage. Here is my first Korean story.

Meg and I had to take a 3:00 a.m. flight from Guam to Korea. It was another uneventful early morning flight. We arrived in Korea at eight o'clock. A little Asian man (5'5) with a piece of notebook paper stating, "Meghan, Chris" was there greeting us. After a one and a half hour drive through Seoul at rush hour with Ray (the driver)*, we understood just how big this city really was. In fact, it is the biggest city I have ever been in. My body did not know what day it was, what time it was, or even what functions it was supposed to carry out. I was a mess. I met an official at the academy, had lunch, and then went to bed. It was probably around two o'clock.

* Ray was very much on the feminine side of masculinity. He picked us up in a little Hyundai. The only vehicles you see in Korea are Hyundais, KIAs, and DaeWoo's. (I don't know how to spell the names of those vehicles and I am too lazy to look it up.) I have seen one Benz too. Anyways, we were in a tiny car. His trunk was already half full of crap. I could tell this was going to be an awful ride through Seoul. Who picks two people up from the airport with a trunk half full? Remember, these people are going to be gone for a year. We had a lot of luggage, but Ray did not get the memo. So I am in the back seat of a little car, with heavy luggage crammed all around me. It must of been a comical sight. I could not buckle up. I did not want to complain to Ray, mainly because I was in Korea for like ten minutes, and I did not want to push any buttons quite yet. Americans call Asians poor drivers. That is their stereotype. And I was in the backseat wondering if that applies to Asians in their homeland.

Seoul is a big city. There is a ton of traffic. I was scared enough with Ray zipping along on the freeway, but then I look out and I see hundreds of other Asian drivers doing the same thing. I was in a unique position to confirm or dis confirm this stereotype. Lets just say he and the rest of Seoul passed; it wasn't pretty, but they passed. In fact, Meg became car sick toward the end of our adventure. So they get a 68% for not hurting us, but scaring the hell out of us at the same time. I don't care who you are, that is a pretty funny situation.

Since I went to bed so early, naturally I was going to wake up early. I woke up at 3:30 am. I was wide awake too. I waited till about six a.m., then I went down one floor to wake up Meg. Turns out she was up since 3 am! We then started to walk around the city. At six in the morning, on a Thursday, we saw many young Koreans stumbling in the streets. Six in the morning and they were still drunk. It was quite amusing for the two of us. One of Zach's Irish friends said that her culture can't hold a candlestick to the Koreans in terms of drinking, and I believe it. America has an obesity epidemic and Korea has a drinking epidemic. It is so cheap to drink here; apparently some people can not afford not to get drunk. But this city has something going on 24 hours a day and is very big, so there's got to be some bad apples. That was our first picture of Korea by ourselves. The caption should have been "What have we got ourselves into?"