I'll Have What She's Having, Three of Them

On Wednesday, Jaemin’s outfit was all repeats expect for his shoes. The kid has more shoes than I do. They were white Puma’s, three stripes of Velcro in three shades of green. They were very stylish, as usual.
I was looking forward to having Trav and Laura show up my school on Wednesday evening. I had no real plans for what to do with them, but I figured at least supper and we would see from there. On Wendesday morning, during my walk, after I just picked up glue (I accidentally left my glue out overnight with the lid off, oops, sorry Mr. Dress-up), my cell phone rang. I almost didn’t answer it when I saw that the caller was unknown. I have been getting a lot of telemarketers or something; they always start taking in Korean and I know immediately that it’s not someone I know. I tell them that I only speak English, they say some more stuff, I repeat that I only speak English, they sigh and hang-up. I sometimes get these calls a few time a day. It’s super annoying. Anyway, my phone rang and I assumed that it would just be another telemarketer, but I picked up anyway. It was JAMIE, I couldn’t believe it! She was calling me from Skype. She told me that Trav and Laura were delayed in Vancouver and wouldn’t arrive until late Wednesday evening. So I no longer had anything to look forward to that evening. I sent them a facebook message telling them to call me as soon as they arrived and we would hang out on Thursday morning.

On Wednesday evening, I worked on the Christmas card, watched Home Alone 2 and tried to get as much prep done as I could for my Thursday classes. I don’t have class until five on Thursdays, but all of my classes are in a row with no breaks, so I have to be fully prepared for everything. I tried to come up with Christmas activities for some of my kids to do and a Christmas lesson for my middle school speaking class. I wanted to have as much done as possible so that I could spend as much time as possible with Trav and Laura. I was up until 2:00 trying to accomplish everything.

Laura called at about 12:00 to say that they had arrived and were heading to their hotel. We made plans for me to meet them at 9:00 and I would bring them breakfast. I woke up 7:30 so that I could pick up things for breakfast and still get to them on time. I didn’t get out of my apartment until after 8:00 and then discovered that Lotte, the grocery store, was closed. So I had to alter my breakfast plan, which meant three stops to finally get everything I needed. I went to Tour Les Jours first. Unlike bakeries in Canada where all the product for the day is put out shortly after open, bakeries here have much of their stuff delivered and it doesn’t get delivered until later so the selection was very small. I ended up with a loaf of bread that was kind of like croissant, it was really delicious but not quite what I had in mind. Then I stopped at a convenience store for Juice for everybody, I left with orange juice and chocolate milk (I remembered at the last moment that Laura doesn’t really like orange juice, but the she, and everybody else, really likes chocolate milk). The store didn’t have any good yogurts nor did it have anything cereal related. So I had to stop again at a 7eleven. There I got yogurt and cereal bars and an espresso drink for me from the heated refrigerators.

By the time I got on the subway, it was already 8:37 according to my cell phone. I knew the subway ride would take at least 45 minuets, making me a very late girl. At that point there was nothing I could do but relax and pass the time reading my book. I am currently reading War and Peace, but it is far to big to haul around, never mind subway read, so I my carry on book is The City of Ladies, which I am enjoying far more than I expected.

I finally got to the hotel, not even too late, I guess the Subway is bit faster in the morning because the trains come more often. I walked up to the hotel and say Trav’s reflection in the window and then heard Laura say “I can see her reflection!” and suddenly there they were, we hugged and laughed. Back in their hotel room, we ate breakfast and the gave me Bryan’s Christmas present, the first part anyway, I am still waiting for the second part. He got me season one of She-Ra: Princess of Power. Yes, it is random, and yes, it is awesome.

After breakfast, we headed out and walked around Insadong for a while, seeing some of the sights of Seoul, at least the sights of Insadong. We walked around palaces and parks, saw a Buddhist temple that was pretty rad. We stopped for coffee before heading out on the Subway back to my end of town. I helped them buy T-Money cards first. We walked back to my apartment from the subway stop and on the way past the restaurant I was kind of thinking of taking them to. As we passed it, Laura commented on the dumplings that were on display outside of the restaurant, she thought they looked good, which sealed the deal. After I changed and got my school stuff we head back to the restaurant.

It was a floor seating only joint, the novelty of the floor seating wears off real quick, legs start to fall asleep and joints become sore and backs start to ache, but this was only going to be a short meal. So we went in. The menu was only the wall and only in Korean, so I quickly glanced around to see what people were eating. There was only one customer and what she had looked good. When the server came by I quickly pointed at what the lady was eating and held up three fingers. About 10 minuets later we were eating mandu duk guk. That is a dumping soup with this little rice cake noodle things. The mandu is like dumpling, I’m not sure what exactly what the filling is made of, but this mandu had kimchi in it. Also, the meal came with two types of kimchi, which Trav actually liked and Laura didn’t mind. The cook also brought us regular mandu to try and gave us some of the pickeled radish that I love so much. The whole meal only cost 12,000 won, that likes 12 bucks. Twelve dollars for all of us to eat and none of us finished our meals because they were too big. I love Korea.

After lunch we still had time before I needed to be at school, so we went back to my very messy apartment for instant coffee. It was nice. They came with me to school because they wanted to see where I work and meet some of my co-workers. We walked into the school (it is very unimpressive looking at first) and ran in to Julia in the hallway on her way to the bathroom. Once inside the school we ran into Mr. Lim who was very surprised but very happy to meet them. Then I took them into the teacher’s room. Tasha had just finished lunch an was very embarrassed to be caught without her teeth brushed and Sunny as usually smiled a lot and said little. Both Tasha and Sunny acted a little strange, but I didn’t think anything of it. Trav and Laura only stayed a moment, I gave them directions back to the subway and we made plans to hangout on Friday night.

As soon as they left the room, Tasha and Sunny both rounded on me. Tasha demanded to know why I had failed to mention that, in her words, my brother was so hot. Sunny had similar comments. They went on for like that for the rest of the day. I thought they would think Trav was a little dirty, but no, apparently they like that. They liked his “hippy style” and when I told them that he was drummer in a rock back, they just about died. It was super funny. I had to remind them that he is married and so are they.

It was so good to hang out with my Trav and Laura and I am looking forward to hanging out with them again tonight. I was a little nervous about having to the one who is in charge and has experience here, because I am never in charge. I have never even ordered for myself at a Korean restaurant, I always go with either Sally or Koreans who order for me. I have never had to direct a cab driver to my apartment and I have only bought waffle fish from street vendors, never anything more complicated than that. But I hope that having my family out here and depending on me a little bit will make me a little bolder. As least Trav and Laura thought it will make me a little bolder. Anyway, I’m late for school.

Dee

December 19, 2008