Random food from Gwangju

So Steve and I were cruising the town the other night (by foot of course) trying to figure out what we should eat. We've pretty much lived at Kim bap nara for the last month, so we were trying to find something a little different. I finally have enough Korean under my belt to make some very sad attempts at communication out here, and we've been a little braver about our food selections. So we decided to kinda scope out this funny fish restaurant that we always walk by. The major draw of this restaurant is the giant blow up cartoon tuna that guides you to the front door. He's giving you the thumb up while wearing his giant chef's hat, so you know that when he goes to cook himself, he'll do it right.

As we walked up to the building, attempting to look in the windows to see what they served, one of the waitstaff basically told us to go inside. This kinda happens a lot here when you're a lost looking American. I don't know if they just get a kick out of us because we don't know anything, or if they feel sorry for us 'cause we look so confused. Many of them regard us with what I think a mixture of sympathy that would probably be better used on a lost 5 year old. "Awww... look it's an American, I think she's lost. Maybe we can feed her. Oh, I don't think she knows how to eat this, maybe I'd better go do it for her... Poor thing can't even speak decent Korean." Mind you this is not exactly a complaint, because there have been many times that this interference has helped me out significantly, but it is mildly comical to see the expressions on their faces when we don't use the correct dipping sauces and what not, it's like they're embarassed for us... I've decided it's the same for them as it would be for us if a Korean came to America and ordered a hamburger, only to take the bread off and cut the meat with a knife while dipping the french fries in mustard. Or so I think.

So anyhow, he grabs us and takes us in, and we immediately realize that this is a little nicer restaurant than we wanted to eat in. So I'm trying to ask if we can split a meal. I said "ok" at some point because I was trying to remember the different counting sufixes and they thought it was hilarious. They all laughed and said "ok, ok". Maybe it's a cuss word? Anyhow, so I managed to explain the sharing (it was rather easy in the end. They have different suffixes for numbers depending on what your counting so I told him the number 1 for a thing and then pointed at us and said the number for 2 people, God bless him for understanding) So we got a cheaper price for splitting a meal, and we're thinking that if the meal is too small we'll run by the convenience store and get some Kimbap on our way home. So we get escorted to a private room, and they even turn the fan on directly at us so it was blowing stuff all over the place.

And then began what I can only describe as an hour of straight eating. I don't know if they kept feeding us because we were foreigners or if they didn't have anything to do, or if everything they fed us really was supposed to be part of the meal. We started with Marsh snails and two types of soup. One was the rice Juk, and the other was just a broth. the marsh snails were very clammy, but you had to fish them out of their shells with a tooth pick, and that was little questionable in our book. After that came some salad and sushi, and some type of squash. The waiter identified it as squash by pretending to be a farmer and harvest squash, I kid you not. Then came the whole plate of different types of tuna sashimi. It was huge. And it had different cuts of meat from different tunas, and the chef brought it out and managed to explain most of the cuts very well to us. They also brought out fresh seaweed to wrap the fish in, or we could use the dried laver (also seaweed) that was on the table. At this point I was sure that we had gotten our money's worth, and was feeling pretty good about our meal. Then one of the waitresses came in and asked something about our soup and salad. I don't know what she asked, but we smiled and nodded that it was good, and three minutes later we got another salad with a different dressing on it. They also had pickled garlic and radish and ginger. We ate all of that with the tuna, and they brought us out a huge bowl of the stuff.

At some point the chef comes back in with more fish (I don't know why exactly) and began dropping it onto our tuna plate. He meticulously explained what each piece was and then was gone. It was like 6 more pieces of tuna sashimi. And then they brought out the vegetable omelet things, and the fried onions, and the random fried meat things. Then they brought out some type of teriyaki pork with lichens. We keep eating as well as we can, but I was beginning to run out of room for the tuna, of all things, and Steve was slowing down as well. Finally we thought that the food was over, and we could just muster our courage and eat the last of what we had been brought, and go home almost clean plate members... and then they brought another salad, with a new type of dressing. Just one though, I don't know about their salad set up, they always brought them out in single serving sizes, I'm sure there was something else we were supposed to do with it, but who could tell.

And then they brought out the bowl of rice, the kimchi, the onion kimchi, the fried anchovies, and a sweeter kind of kimchi that I haven't had before. That was when we decided that we wouldn't be finishing everything. Each time they brought things in they would smile at us, and Steve and I began to wonder if they had a bet running on how much the fat Americans could eat.

But here's the crazy part, we only paid 25,000 for the whole meal. That's less than $25. And that was for both of us. It was crazy. So needless to say, we'll be going back there the next time we get paid.

On other strange food news, about half way through our day today, they announce that because of the break, and the heat, they've bought chickens for everyone. So that was strange, but whatever. Then, the president of the company holds a meeting in between classes to let us know that he wants us to stay healthy over the break, and please enjoy our chicken, and thank you for your service and please stay safe over the break. They continually tell the foreign teachers to stay safe, and often ask us to take our temperature regularly to make sure we're not getting sick. So then we all pick up what we assume is a chicken that has been carefully wrapped in a black plastic bag that's reminiscent of a good old American liquor store bag. The Korean teachers got big Styrofoam containers, but I didn't think to ask why they had different packages. So later in the afternoon I find out that we haven't been given a chicken, but instead chicken ginseng soup, and the Korean teachers have actually gotten a cooler with a full chicken in it. This actually makes a lot of sense because we don't have an oven in our apartment, only a stove.

What's really funny about this is that it's not the first time we've been given random food at school. One time a teacher got married and bought everyone hamburgers. All the time I come in and there's a crate full of fruit of some sort that parents have bought and dropped off for the teachers. They bring rice cakes (not the diet kind but the Korean kind, their big gooey balls of cake filled with random things), donuts, plumbs, grapes, you name it. And then when I mentioned today that this was the most random gift I'd ever received from work, they told me that it wasn't unusual at all, and that if I waited, I get all sorts of gifts like this. So here's to Korea, the country that keeps trying to feed me till I burst, and still makes me loose weight.

On a completely separate note, I think we'll be spending our vacation time in Gyongju on the east coast, so be looking for new pictures after next week. I'm told it's full of temples and lots of free tourist attraction places.