Korean Family Dinner

I had the craziest dinner of my life two nights ago.

My friend Jihyun invited me to a dinner with her family and her visiting Japanese "uncle".  Not really her uncle but a family friend. I thought we'd be going to her home for dinner, where I missed the last dinner she invited me to consisting of roasted duck, but I was sorely mistaken. Instead we arrived outside of a restaurant that was lined with tanks of live fish, octopus, squid, you name it. Jihyun turns around and says "You like sashimi?". And of course, the answer in my head is "I HATE sashimi", but the answer I gave her was simply, "sure!". 

We sat down and her father started pouring us glasses of Cass beer. As we began drinking, he started pouring us shots of soju. I'm sitting there thinking, "please don't make me drink that!". But of course, minutes later we all did a celebratory shot together. And then another. And later, another. Then the first course of dinner came out. The best way to explain this course is through pictures. Of course, I didn't take pictures at dinner, but these pictures are the closest I could find on the internet:

(squid)

(squid ink)

The difference between my food and the food in those pictures? My squid was very fresh and the ink was still inside all of those round pieces of squid (as you'd find it naturally). So I didn't have the option of passing up the ink, I had no choice but to put a huge piece of squid in my mouth, ink and all! It takes about 5 minutes to chew that stuff down enough to swallow, no joke. It was like eating rubber with mushy liver puree (not that I've had it). It was slightly awful to be honest, but I was proud of myself for at least eating it with a smile! I stuck to eating the tentacles and the hard boiled quail eggs they set on the table for us. 

I must admit, I didn't realize there was more than one course at the time we had the squid. I was thinking to myself "Hallelujah! This is almost over!", but to my surprise, when they took the squid away, they popped open the bottle of wine I had brought them and said it was to accompany the second course. "Second course?! I will die!". But I just sat there looking excited for the next butcher of food. 

I will also admit that by the time the second course came out, I was already a little drunk. I had 2 glasses of beer, a glass of wine, and at least 3-4 shots of soju. My body is not built for heavy drinking, and especially not when I'm eating very little food, with no carbs. 

They bring out the second course, 2 gigantic trays of sashimi (raw fish). They look at me as though I should be impressed. There are five different types of fish. All just killed seconds ago. It is impressive. It would be even more so if I could down raw fish without having gag reflex. And if I could look at the tray without seeing double. 

But I forged ahead. It wasn't half bad. I think because it was completely fresh, and because I was completely drunk. During the raw fish course, the father of the family opens a bottle of scotch whiskey and starts pouring everyone shots. I feel my head spinning ... off. Off my shoulders completely. I can't believe I have to drink more. With the first shot I just sipped a little from the glass. It buuurrnnnneed! Burned worse than I've ever felt. I decided I probably shouldn't sip slowly, it would just make it worse. So I took the rest as a shot. 

Then the mother joins in, "Linsae!! Whiskey!!", and pours me another. And then the father, amused at my ability to take shots of whiskey, pours another. 

The waitress then brings out another huge plate of raw fish. "Really?!" I've so had enough at this point. I was barely seeing straight. I was so full. And to top it off, it wasn't even the last course!

The last course: all the left over squid, mixed with ramen, in a very spicy broth. I poured myself another glass of wine, as someone at the table filled my beer glass again. I was done eating. I really couldn't do another ounce. I tried it, and called it good. 

Needless to say, I went to bed that night, with my head spinning in circles. And I woke in the morning to a teerrrrrible headache. All in the name of my first Korean family dinner. 

A David Sedaris Christmas

I've had a very wonderful Christmas here in Seoul. I feel very blessed for the love that people have shown me. It's amazing to me how quickly you can meet great people that make you feel like you are nearly home for the big holiday. A group of co-workers and friends put on a dinner late last night for Christmas Eve after we got off work. We had such a good time. I was surrounded by great people, amazing home-cooked food, drinks, and constant laughs. I came home in the early morning and began skyping with family (my oldest brother on the east coast), and upon waking this morning I was right back on skype with the rest of my family in Oregon (who have been without water and electricity for over four days now!). They were down spending the afternoon with my Nana, enjoying Christmas dinner, opening presents, and taking showers! It's hard to see your family all together and see all of them joking with each other, and being their crazy-selves, and not being able to be crazy right along with them. But thank goodness for skype and being able to see all of their faces and hearing all of their laughs. I later got to talk with one of my best friends, Linda, who has been living outside of Philadelphia since I left for Korea. She's been doing a project where she works with kids in an impoverished neighborhood, while living in poverty herself. She luckily was able to return to Oregon for the holidays and see her family. It was so great to finally see her face and chat with her! It's crazy how much you can miss a person, and how seeing them for just a minute brings back all memories as if you'd never been apart. It warmed my heart, to say the least.

I spent the late afternoon at another friends house, where a small group of us shared in a Christmas feast and a viewing of Home Alone. It felt like Christmas with the family! We all just lounged around, cozy, stuffed to the brim, watching a cheesy holiday movie, while I fell in and out of sleep (that's when you know I feel like I'm home). 

And tonight, I finally made it back to my apartment, to the remaining portion of my sister's amazing Christmas present. This Christmas present was so awesome, it deserves an entire blog on it's own really. My amazing sister put together a very interactive plan for me to open my presents this year. She sent several individually wrapped gifts, each with a different color bow on them. She sent a stack of 13 hand-made cards, and inside each card was instructions of which present to open, and things I needed to do for the opening of each present. I realized a little late that I was supposed to open cards/presents 1-6 when I first received the package (over a week ago)! So in talking to her late last night she informed me I was already supposed to open them! As I opened each of the first presents I found white christmas lights, an abstract tree made of pailettes, wire, and beads (you can kinda see in the pictures below), 2 dozen candles, and best of all, she made me garland from brightly colored felt, cut into multi-sized circles, sewing them into a very long strand! This I will be sporting all year round in my apartment. It is so unbelievably awesome. 

So tonight I came home and opened card seven which told me to warm up some milk, plug in the christmas lights, light the candles, and have 1.5 hours of uninterrupted time to spare. And then I opened present seven which was hot chocolate mix, and present eight, which was moose mix (which is awesome if you don't already know it). I made my hot chocolate, and then opened up another present which was a cd with a few Christmas songs, and David Sedaris' Santa Land Diaries from an NPR show, a couple years back. It's about him being an elf at Macy's Herald Square one Christmas season, his hate of the job, and his dreaming of being part of the soap opera, One Life to Live. It is beyond hilarious. His sense of humor is so dry and so good. The cd then ended with another couple Christmas songs. 

Lastly, I opened my remaining four presents: Candy, jewelry, and lingerie. What more could a girl want? (I won't actually answer that.)

There's really only one way to sum up this Christmas present: Totally Awesome. Rawr. (TBTL style.) Even mentioning the present to my friends, they all exclaimed, "Man! I want to meet your sister!" This after she knit me rad wool mittens for my birthday last month. And I'm sure, after reading this blog, you want to meet her too. You probably want her to be your sister. She is the greatest there ever was. I'm so blessed. 

I'll leave you now with pictures I took during the 1.5 hours of bliss:

(Sister's present all set-up, David Sedaris playing on the computer.)

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! I miss and love you all!

Reasons I Haven't Posted In So Long

1. Just to piss off the people that actually read this blog. (sister):

2. I've been preoccupied with Korean Boys (The exact opposite actually. They just happened to be swarming me that night.):

3. I've been starring at my Christmas presents for hours on end:

4. I've been wrapping your presents for hours on end! (No seriously, hours. See those little flowers on the presents? They don't just make themselves. They take 2 hands. And those hands would be mine. Can't type when I'm making flowers out of thin air.) Ps ... last crafty project of 2008. I'm spent.

5. My friend Collin came to visit. It was awesome to have a friend come and stay with me. I realized how much I miss people from back home! And having him here also got me out to see some sights I'd yet to explore. One of those being Namsan Tower (Seoul Tower). It's so close to where I live, yet I hadn't gone to see it yet. We went on a shitty night (hazy), but Collin got a great shot of the tower nonetheless (below). 

6. Because I get busy and forget. Plain and simple. But I'll start remembering. I'm glad there are people out there actually reading it. Makes my heart ... warm.