Cultural Expansion
Ok so last night I threw a little sware' (sp?) at my apartment for all the new teachers. I had noticed lately that not many of the cats get out much and if they do venture out it's usually with other western teachers and all they do is drink. So, I figured I could get Su Yeon to cook some food and I could clean up my hole of an apartment (which is sadly twice as big as everyone else's) and invite everyone over for a semi-traditional korean meal.
Su Yeon made Chow Chan noodles, Jay Yu dop bop, bugolgi, bop, mul mandu, Ko Sun yuk, and home made Bek Say ju (fried clear noodles, spicey pork, spicey beef, steamed dumplings, Kings mushrooms, and rice wine). She made it all before hand but had to really cook everything at my house. She was a little late arriving so I cooked up some friend dumplings and made my "Bret Special Soy Sauce" and laid them out until everyone arrived. The conversation was dull as most of the people were new, and if they weren't new I found most of them to be rather uncultured when dining. They all seemed a tad awkward although most of them had been here for months. Some refused to use chop sticks (not as in they tried for hours to eat and then gave up...they just merely wouldn't attempt to eat with chop sticks), the others refused to sit on the floor (korean style), and one even made the bold attempt of turning on the television. I didn't mind because I was watching Su Yeon cook and scamper around like a little house wife trying to find enough clean bowls and such to hold all the food. So there inconsideration were of no real alarm to me. But, Keith took them a little personal and rightly so as his girlfriend was sitting trying to show everyone Korean dinner party games, and people simply ignored her because she couldn't speak English. I was watching the two Koreans play perfect hosts, I was watching the four westerners be perfect slobs and for some reason thought of Animal Farm.
I thought everything was prepared great and I really enjoyed the meal. But, half way through most of the foreigners were like, "Oh, let's just order a pizza." I don't understand people. They come half way around the world, work a shitty job, and the only perk they really have here is to experience something new and they lazily choose to drink Budweiser, eat Burger King, and befriend other foreigners. It was a sad night for western culture, but it was a damn good night for me. I came off like a hero, so did Keith by the way, as it seems our paths have evolved together. We poured, toasted, ate, spoke, and participated in every way that we have come to learn from other Koreans. I was proud of us.
