Last night was a fun one.
The majority of the members of the Cotter class of 2008 (Korean population, that is!) met in Gang-nam for dinner last night, and it was a lot of fun! We met at a coffee shop at six, Ji Won, our party-planner, of course strolling in around six-fifteen (haha! love you, Ji Won!! ㅋㅋㅋㅋ)! After all the hugs and customary "how is your summer going? When do you leave for school?" questions, we headed out to our restaurant for sam-gyup-sal, or a thick, bacon-like strip of pork cooked in front of you on a barbecue. This is a dish I'm not usually a big fan of, but the more I eat it, the more I like it. In Korea, whenever food is cooked on a barbecue, we use lettuce leaves and other types of leaves to wrap it in, putting a spicy sauce on it and other garnishes. Tasty!
We spent the night just laughing and having fun, enjoying each other's company before we all go our separate ways. For me, it was a little hard because whenever the Cotter Koreans get together, they obviously speak Korean. I don't understand much of what they say, so sometimes it is frustrating, but I had a really fun time last night. Kind of bitter sweet, as I leave in a week and it was the last time I would see many of my friends! It is also cool because some of my classmates act really different when in Korea with Koreans than they do in the US. I don't think it's because they are "two faced" or anything like that, rather they are finally in their comfort zone, at home eating their own food, speaking their own language, dressing in their own style, doing things the Korean way. It was a fun night!
This afternoon I met up with Eun Chun Onni and had lunch with her friends. I described this in one of my last blogs, how one of her friend's mom wanted to meet me and treat ALL of us to lunch. We met her and she was so kind! She was really encouraging about my Korean! Also, this friend, Ji Young, lives in a building that is inhabited by Alex, a really really famous Korean singer (who happens to be Ji Young's FAVORITE!). I still can't get over how cool it is that Korean celebrities mingle so much with the everyday Koreans!
Lunch was fun- a yummy buffet with some American food (SALSA!) Eun Chun's friends are really cool, and I was really happy I could hang out with them again. They don't really speak English, but they were really patient with my poor Korean!
Tonight Hyun Gi and I went running around the lakes by her house. She is so into her work-out program, and there is some serious improvement being made! Hyun Gi is getting buff! Tonight I had a revelation- I was saying how I like exercising in Korea better because it isn't as intense as in America. She told me most adult Koreans don't run because it is hard on their knees, so they power walk instead. It hit me then that Koreans focus on overall health- good diet, healthy body, etc, whereas Americans focus on not having FAT. We do whatever it takes- crash dieting, lypo, over exercising, to rid our bodies of the all evil fat! Koreans have a much more rounded view of health.
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