Tuesday, February 28, 2006

busy weekend

Friday night I stayed in. I was meeting Eun Gyung at 9:10 to visit her friend's gym. An affair I thought would only last an hour, 2 at most, lasted til almost 3pm. It involved a free lunch, a viewing of a tae kwon do dance, and an ivitation to a housewarming party of a man I had only said 'hello" to, so it was worth it.

I sent a text to Beard, informing him of the plan and took a nap. I woke up at 4 as Beard was getting home from riding his bike in a field. We asked Eun Gyung what to bring as a gift, as we knew one would be expected. She said we could bring tissues or soap. Why? Soap--the more bubbles, the more money the family will earn. Tissues--in the words of JinYoung, Eun Gyung's boyfriend, they need them! We brought tissues.

The new apartment was in Sangmo-dong, on the 13th floor. It was more spacious than ours, not surprising, as most are, and had a little girl in pig tails running around. We were given a traditional korean rice drink while waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. I've had it before. I'm not sure how it's made but it has rice at the bottom of the glass. It is sweet and refreshing.

Most all the guests arrived at the same time, I knew someone important had entered when everyone jumped up from the floor to stand. I found out later that he is the man who taught probably everyone else in the room tae kwon do. Now, several of those people own gyms themselves. Everyone was seated again--we all sat in the living room at 3 korean tables on the floor. Then the food was brought out--bugogi (meat of some sort), chicken and potatoes in a broth, and several side dishes. Every one was given their own bowl rice, bowl of very delicious soup and a glass of beer. We waited to eat until the important man started eating--I also held off until the owner of the new apt started eating too. Beard was seated next to I.M. so he had to start eating sooner.

The food was absolutely delicious. Although I couldn't finish my rice so I handed it over to Beard. It is rude not to finish the food that is given to you--looks like it is not delicious enough to eat. That wasn't the case. I had eaten too much of the other things and had forgotten about the rice. Look at me defending myself...

At around 8, everyone left and we did too. We met up with Christa and Judy (she used to teach at my hogwan) for sangipsal in Bisan dong. I don't eat sangipsal. It's thick bacon cooked on a grill built into the table. I tried a few pieces once and spent several days in the bathroom afterwards. Apparently after 4 years of no red meat eating, my body couldn't handle it. So now I just stay away. I was more than stuffed from the housewarming.

Out came the raw meat to be cooked by Jinyoung and Eungyung and following the bowls of meat--the bottles of soju. It had been a while since I had drank the stuff. It always has an effect right away.

After a while, Christa, Eungyung and I went to find the restroom. Most places of business don't have their own bathroom, there is usually a bathroom somewhere outside around the corner, up some stairs through the hallway. We found one. We were a bit loud in there and soon an ajumma came in to tell us to be quiet. She came around the corner speaking Korean and as soon as she saw me said--ohmygod! hello! ilikeyou, iloveyou, thank you.--when christa came out of the stall there was more ohmygod! and Christa got a little ass pat while she was washing her hands.

We went back down to the restaurant and soon--there she was! Eungyung kept saying she's drunk, she's weird. And we said, yep. I don't think Eungyung realizes that this kind of stuff happens to us ALL THE TIME. We drink some soju with her. I share an orange that Judy brought for me since I don't eat meat. She made us promise that we would go to her nori bang sometime.

The waegooks left early--Beard and I were helping Christa, Greg and Bryan move the next day. I went over to Christas at 1030 and WAITED forever till something happened. Two men with white gloves showed up--these were the movers. The white gloves gave them away. However, they should be called walkers or talkers b/c that's what they did for about 45 mins. No moving was done. Then Mr. Oh came--Christa's director--and there was more walking and talking. Still no moving. They all left and Christa and I started making jokes about moving.

Teacher, what is moving? Moving is the present progressive form of the verb to move. Example: She is moving today.

What is she doing? She is moving.

Are they moving? No they're not.

That last one brought us to tears. Probably only funny to English teachers. Around 1 Oh came back and said that those movers would not move Christa. Apparently there was too much stuff and we needed to get a "ladder truck." The kind we encountered the first week here. A truck that lifts a platform to the balcony where everything is loaded onto it. The platform is then lowered at a remarkable speed and a man at the bottom puts everything into another truck. It is very quick.

After the first few loads went down--what was going to be in Christa's new apt--Oh informed us that EVERYTHING needed to go. We weren't prepared for that. Oh had owned the apt for 10 years. Ten years of English teachers' discarded crap needed to be moved. Wow. I called Beard for him to tell Bryan and Greg that this would be happening at their apt too.

It went much quicker than expected. Soon we were at Bryan and Greg's watching their stuff being lowered from the 15th floor. A MUCH better spectacle than Christa's 2nd floor apt. After hanging out for a while, Christa and I decided to go to her new apt to clean the floors before all the stuff was delivered.

What happened next was a little unexpected. The movers deposited all of the stuff on the street--next to the trash pile--outside of the new apt. Just left it there and disappeared. This set Christa off. We started lugging her stuff up from the street. Mr. Oh called and said the movers would return. We doubted it. However, after we had carried up several loads-they did indeed return. Just in time to carry up the fridge and the washing machine.

After witnessing that, I headed home. We met up wiht Eungyung and Jinyoung for bowling. Beard and I lost again and had to pay for the games. But they paid for chicken and beer after.

Tomorrow is a holiday. Tonight we're going to a jimjilpang with Beard's friend Meg and her husband. It'll be my first time spending the night at a jimjilpang. I'm still not sure why we're spending the night and not just going home but, I think it's just one of those things.

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