Soju Night

Friday, January 26th,

On Thursday, I decided to join a few teachers for a night of food and drinks. Joseph, James, Hee Young, her friend (not a teacher), and I went to a bar. Joseph and James grew up in the states, but they can speak Korean. I was the only with a Korean language problem. Hee Young's English is ok, but she struggles with conversation in English. They ordered Makkoli (unstrained rice wine) and Soju (alcohol made from sweet potatoes). For food, we had the "Korean pancake." It has onion, egg, octopus, and a flour based crust. In Korea, while drinking at bars, you almost always have to order snacks.

At the next bar, we had more Soju and more snacks. This time, they ordered Kimchi chigae (soup), another soup with silkworm larvae, and another dish. Hee Young likes silkworm larvae which seems to be popular in Korea. I didn't try it because I had drank enough by that point and didn't want to test my digestive system with a strange looking and probably unusual tasting food. At about 1:15 AM, they decided to hit up another place. I told them I should get home, so they found a taxi that would be able to find Dr. Kim's house. I had his address written down, so all the driver had to do was put it into his dashboard GPS. It took about 45 minutes and 27,000 won ($28), so it was a long and a bit expensive end to the night.

I did inform Dr. Kim at the beginning of the night that I would be out late. He still wanted to make sure that I would be able to get home ok. I told him that my friends would be able to tell a taxi driver the directions. When I did arrive home, Dr. Kim was awake watching TV and asked how my night was. It seems strange to be 28 year old and still have someone waiting up for your arrival home, but it is the Korean way.