Are You Delicious?!?!

Hongdae (in Seoul)

Yesterday, I was invited out to lunch by one of my co-teachers, Clara. We met in Hongdae, which is a pretty popular place for young people in Seoul. Hongdae is a college area (more formally known as Hongik University).  The area is surrounded by restaurants, some shops, and an assortment of different bars and clubs. Since we got there early in the day, there weren't any drunks or any random shenanigans happening.

Far building is part of Hongik University

Clara came with her two daughters (pardon the crude way of writing their names... I'd show you in Korean, but I can't do the characters on my laptop): Seh-leen (close to Celine) who is 21 in Western age, and Seh-yun who is 19. For those of you who don't know, Koreans consider you 1 when born (so I'm 23 here, not 22). The have Christian names (Agnus and Rose, respectively) but I never used them since they didn't seem to fit.  Like most other Koreans who meet me, they were really shy to practice their English around me.  Having an English teacher for a mother, I knew they'd be better at it than most people their age, so I didn't quite believe their responses of "no, we don't know well" when I asked if they could speak the language.  As a teacher, I felt it was necessary to test their abilities throughout the day.

L to R: Seh-leen, Clara, Seh-yun

We started off by going to a cozy little restaurant on the outside of Hongdae. Not sure what the place was called, but it was kind of a dark, almost seafood restaurant-looking place with dark wooden floors, benches, and tables.  It would have been a slightly depressing place if it weren't for the wonderful space heater in the middle of the room and the cheerful Christmas music playing over the surround sound.  I had requested a place with kalbi (sort of like a roast beef) but the place didn't have it, so we settled for an excellent meal of bulgogi (sort of like BBQ beef). During my conversations with Clara's daughters, I busted out my driver's license, MTU ID, and ARC, all of which had pictures taken at different times over the past 4 years. The girls told me that I seemed to get younger over the years and even told me later in the day that I seemed younger than when we first met.  Not sure exactly how to take that...

The youngest, Seh-yun, was the first to become obsessed with talking to me. I think I got a full bite of food every five minutes due to either responding to her questions or laughing at her misuse of English. The best statement by far during the entire day was when she looked at me and said with a sincerely curious expression on her face, "Are you delicious???"  Before I could respond, Clara and her older daughter were bent over in laughter. For those of you who know me well, you know I responded with a Big D-like statement... "Why yes... yes I am" followed by a <wink, wink>.  She had meant to say, "IS IT delicious", referring to the bulgogi.  The conversation took another turn after we explained her error. She said, "Ok... really, ARE you delicious? I think so..."  I paused a moment to check Clara's response. I was relieved to see that she was laughing, yet again, rather than watching me for a potential inappropriate answer.

After our eventful lunch, we went for a coffee in a nearby coffee lounge. We all had coffee (the Korean word is just like 'copy') and slices of different cheesecakes. We spent a little over an hour there talking about random topics like guns and hunting in America, my family, and the American perspective of people who constantly play computer games (apparently the Asian stereotype is true... almost all of them love computer and video games).

After that, we headed towards Insadong, a very popular place in Seoul for foreigners. Along the way, Clara asked if I had ever been to a fortune teller. I said no, and she insisted that I try it out. It was quite an experience, so here's a rundown of the most interesting revelations of my life:

My fortune teller and me.

- I am a proud, shy, and delicate perfectionist, who is an entertainer and natural leader.
- I will get married after the age of 32 (God, I hope not...)
- I need to take care of my liver and bones (there goes my drinking plans for the evening).
- I will live to be 91 years old (I didn't ask if that meant Korean or Western age...)
- The best match for a partner will be an older girl (Seh-leen was my translator, and quickly tried to convince me that that was a mistake and a younger girl would be fine...)
- The best months for me to date are January (YES!) and October.
- I will be rich at the age of 32 and will never lose my fortune. 

Obviously, I don't believe anything that was said to me, but I do have my hopes for some of those things...

Korean art in Insadong

We went from there to Insadong and checked out a bunch of shops with traditional Korean art and souvenirs. We even went into a shop that bought and sold old collectibles from all around the world. My family can appreciate my excitement when I saw an old model of the Ecto-1. Some of the other things in that shop were really bizarre. For example, Clara handed me a really ratty and worn magazine that looked like an old Korean Cosmo. "Korean..... Playboy... or Penthouse", she explained. I was hesitant to flip through it, but curiosity got the best of me. At first, I was amazed to see that it was less revealing than a Victoria's Secret catalog, but it quickly made sense to me, seeing how conservative Korea is compared to the US.

Ecto-1!!!

We ended the day by going to a fried chicken restaurant and jumping on the subway together. At this point, I had almost completely stopped talking since both of Clara's daughters had reached the point of comfort where they could say pretty much anything they wanted to in English. They said they hoped to hang out with me again sometime soon. Clara jumped in, " maybe we can take him out to dinner in Bucheon... somewhere delicious."