Bloodletting on the Cloven Hoof

This was supposed to be published a while ago, but I got really lazy, sorry. This is an account of the first week or so of Bryan being in Korea. I started it a while ago.

I have been considering for months how to feed Bryan when he first he arrived. I wanted to give him a taste of everything that is delicious in Korea. There is so much good food that it is difficult to get him to eat everything right away. I think I did pretty good though. We have visited all the tiny kimbap restaurants in the area (because mine closed down). We have been to Kimbap Villages and Kimbap Houses and Kimbap Palaces. I also managed to get him some mandu guk, dukkoboggi, sampugsal, hangover stew, mystery seafood, kimchi pajoen (pancakes), and a few other bar snacks. We have sampled Korean versions of pizza and fried chicken as well. And I even cook him a couple of fancy ramyeon meals. I think food the best part of traveling. I am glad that eating in Korea is cheap.
We spend the first week walking around Ssungmun. We didn’t get on a subway until Wednesday, when we visited Sarah for our weekly Wednesday night hangouts. Bryan fell asleep on Sarah’s bed, the jet lag was still affecting him. We also got him on the claw machine, he didn’t win. If he wants to be a good Korean boyfriend, he is going to have to figure out the claw machine. But he has done a good job of carrying my purse at times, so he is almost there. I just have to get him in tighter pants and maybe grow out his hair so that he can get a fashion cut by a “designer” in tight pants and wielding scissors in pink leopard patterned utility belts.
Since Bryan has been here, we have become regulars at the Train hof near our apartment, the one that serves giant towers of beer, 3000 cc’s. “He’s 3000 cc’s of beer, Stat!” They also serve hard boiled eggs as a bar snack and make a mean kimchi pajeon. After a night out on the town, Bryan and sI stopped there for another drink (it was already after 2:00) and while we were there we meet a nice couple who sat with us for drink or two. We drank with them in the Train hof for awhile (referred to us as the Train hof because it is trained themed) and communicated as best we could. For some reason, talking with Koreans who speak very little English becomes much easier when everybody is very drunk. Eventually, the servers told us they wanted to close and asked us to leave. This is where Bryan’s memory ended. We left the train hof and walked down the street to a different bar that was still open. We orderd a piture of beer and then Bryan went to the bathroom and I assumed the boy did too. I sat with the girl (Sunny) and we chatted about her for awhile, when I realized that Bryan had been for long time.
The next afternoon we woke up and the bastard didn’t even have a hang over, and I, who looked after him all night, including sleeping on the floor beside the bathroon for a while, wanted to die a little bit. After moping around and trying to not vomit, I finally recovered enough to feel as though I could keep some eats down. We headed out and walked around for a while to find, because it was appropriate, hangover soup. Hae Jang Guk (해상극) is pork bone soup. It is served with with three bowls, one for the meat you pcik of the bone, one for the delicious mustard like sauce with which it is served and one for the bones. The broth is really delicious as well, with a few spices that I couldn’t identity. Before we left the house, we did some internet research to find out exactly how to order and eat the soup. I had only heard of it and didn’t even know the exact name.
Going into an unfamiliar restaurant for the first time to try out new food for the first time is one the most intimidating things to me. We walked around for a long time before I had the courage to finally step inside a restaurant. The server came over with the menu, which is really just a piece of paper and you check the thing you want. Obviously it is all I Korean and even though I knew what to look for, it still took awhile to find the exact combination of characters. The snowman followed the by the h, finally stood out. Then once the food is finally served there is always that impression that I am eating it incorrectly. The servers here are likely to quickly see how you doing it wrong and correct you as best they can with their Korean and your English. It can be a little embarrassing, as if you don’t know how to eat.
Bryan and I tired to figure out if there were any popular foods in Canada that you would need to learn to eat correctly. We decided that the hardest part for a person unfamiliar with North American cuisine would be all the options. In Korean there are almost never options, you order and that is what you get. In Canada, you have to specify all sorts (scrambled, rye, bacon) there are almost always follow up questions with endless options. Everything else seems straight forward, but then I would suppose to Koreans, all the food they eat would seem straight forward too.