Anthony in Korea, Day 3, Friday, April 24, 2009

This morning I awoke at about 5am to the sounds and smells of someone cooking in the kitchen. You know what I mean—the cracking of eggs, the sizzling of the pan, etc. I was wondering why Olivia’s mom was cooking so early in the morning. But then I just rolled over and went back to sleep.

For the past two days, I admit, I have felt like Jerry Seinfeld in that episode where he is dating a masseuse who refuses to give him a massage. After all, I’m living in the home of a famous Korean chef—she has her own TV show, radio show, and she’s published many cookbooks. Of course, I certainly don’t deserve for her to cook for me. But I must admit that I’ve been craving some of whatever she whips up.

When I finally woke up around 10am, Olivia’s mom was gone, but Olivia was still home and she told me that her mom had gone to do her weekly radio program. Apparently, she wakes up early every Friday, cooks a big meal, and brings it with her to the studio for her guest to try on the air. Just when I was about to ask Olivia what her mom made, she told me, “oh, mom left you some food.” And there it was, a baked egg quiche-like casserole with sausage, broccoli, and cheese. Of course, I haven’t eaten sausage in four years. But I certainly didn’t want to insult Olivia’s mother so I suffered through it. And, uh, well, it was super-delicious (although I feel sorry for the pigs!).

After breakfast I did my first tutoring session with Olivia. For those of you who don’t know, the opportunity to tutor Olivia was one of the main attractions of this trip. She’s a gifted young woman who speaks English, Korean, and Japanese; who can hear a song and play it on the piano within minutes; who plans to first get her MA in molecular biology and then go to medical school, both in the USA. So for a mediocre teacher like me, it is wonderful to tutor a student like Olivia—she soaks up everything I say like a sponge, regardless of how good or bad my actual teaching is. Not bad!

Olivia’s mom came home smiling because she had just been in talks with a university to do some cooking classes or something. Anyway, when someone in Korea is offered a new job, the first thing they do is take their friends out for lunch or dinner. So we all went to a traditional Korean restaurant and had a variety of dishes [please see the photos above]. ALL of the food was very spicy. Ordinarily, I dislike spicy food. But honestly, it is starting to grow on me. In fact, I have reached the point where I really like it—provided I can wash it down with a cold beer!

After that I ventured into the city to meet my other students, Dahee and Sunae. These two, referred to me by a Korean friend in Greensboro, were extremely bright and sociable and they didn’t seem upset at all that I got lost on the way there and was late.

To cap off the day, I met Olivia and her boyfriend in Itaewon. Itaewon is perhaps the most popular neighborhood in Seoul. It’s right near where the old US army base used to be so there are dozens of shops with English signs, catering to expatriates living in Seoul. It’s a pricy area; nonetheless, to thank Olivia for all of her graciousness so far, I took her and her boyfriend out to eat. The restaurant area of Itaewon is located in a series of narrow, windy, hilly streets, and it’s easy to get lost amidst the dozens of ethnic restaurants. You can find every kind of cuisine there; we ate at a Chinese-Thai place and the food was out of this world.

On the way home we stopped at the Korean version of WalMart, Lotte Mart, and I bought some sneakers, because all this walking has taken a toll on my feet and I needed something comfortable. By the way, in a prior post I referred to “Emart” as the Korean WalMart, but Emart is really more like Target and Lotte Mart is much, much, much bigger. The place was PACKED with Koreans buying all sorts of stuff—everything from dumplings to TV sets to bunny rabbits (real ones; Lotte Mart has a pet section, too).

Anyway, I feel particularly tired tonight, so I think I will retire. Tomorrow I have to wake up early to tutor a Korean couple that answered an ad on the internet, and then it’s off to tutor Olivia’s boyfriend who, I discovered tonight, hardly knows any English. Should be fun!