Well, as expected I am writing the Saturday entry for my blog on Sunday morning. Actually, I wasn’t even out all that late last night…I just was so tired I decided to wait until Sunday, my only true day off.
I started the say by meeting with the lawyer I tutor each Saturday morning. He is a really nice guy and, as mentioned last week, becoming a lawyer in Korea in incredibly difficult. If you are wondering why a rich lawyer in Korea wants to learn English, the answer is he and his wife and daughter plan to move to NYC in two years, where he wants to go to law school and earn an American law degree. They don’t plant to stay there—they just want to live there for a short time, and build up his resume. It’s strange to me, because this couple seems to have it all already—a nice two-bedroom apartment with hardwood floors, and, like a lot of Korean homes I’ve been in, an electronic toilet seat that stays warm all the time (there are many buttons on it; I wonder what they all do!). This couple is so nice that after I tutored the lawyer, they prepared lunch and we all ate together. The wife made Monte Cristo sandwiches. It was so delicious. I didn’t want to eat the meat but what was I supposed to do?
Anyway, I came back to Sangdo and tutored both Olivia and her boyfriend for 2.5 hours, Olivia and her boyfriend. One thing I noticed when I was on my way back is how many shops there are in the subway system here. In NYC there are always people sitting on the floor selling things, and there are occasional shops located in the subway system, but I rarely see anyone in them. In Seoul, however, the shops are everywhere, and people are always buying stuff from them [see photo]. In fact, there are 7-11s and Dunkin Donuts in Seoul subways stations as well, and there is so much more room than in NYC subways stations…the stations are all 4 or 5 times bigger than any one in NYC.
Next I went to Hongdae to meet Wany for the “party.” Actually, there wasn’t a party at all. As it turned out, Wany, Ju, and Jun, three former INTERLINK students, and a friend of theirs, were just having dinner and drinks. Then again, whenever Koreans get together like this in a bar/restaurant, the food comes and alcohol flows so it is very much a party-like atmosphere. As always, food and drink were ordered and consumed simultaneously, and when the beer and soju and food ran out, more was ordered. A great time was had by all. One thing they loved to eat was budaejeegae, which is a boiling got bowl of spicy pork and tofu and cabbage, served on a portable gas burner. [Please see photos for pics of students and food]. Honesty, as good as the food and drink were, it was just so nice to spend time with some former INTERLINK students. And they were all nice enough to speak English in front of me, no Korean at all, out of respect—or maybe it was because I told them I would be footing the bill!
I’ve learned three interesting Korean drinking traditions. The first is that nobody ever pours their own drink. It’s actually considered bad luck to do so; when you reach for the bottle, very quickly someone else at the table grabs it and pours you a glass. After that he hands the bottle to you, so you can return the favor. The second tradition is that at any moment during the meal/drinking session, anyone can lift up a glass and say “kungbea,” which basically means “cheers.” In the US, usually we say cheers at the beginning, but not throughout. Koreans, however, do it all night long, which leads to a lot of drinking. And finally, whenever someone says “kungbae,” as everyone taps glasses, the oldest person’s glass (mine, in every case so far), is on top, and everyone else purposely lowers his glass in an act of deference to the oldest person.
Anyway, I got back to Sangdo at about 11pm, craving pizza. Unfortunately, PapaJohns, Mr. Pizza, and Dominos, all within a half kilometer of where I live, had just closed. I won’t even tell you what I wound up settling for because it’s fast food and it’s something I would never eat in the States!
Did you feel strange when you saw many shops in subway stations??
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