A Series of Blurbs

Continuing just like last time...

Gym Friends
Tane has made several friends at his current gym. The owners have befriended him and taken him under their wing. They've developed a workout routine and frequently jab him in the stomach saying, "Destroy the grease." They took him out for dinner the other day and it was a great success, so they invited us to do the same last night. I was reluctant at first for a variety of reasons. For one, I've been getting a bit tired of what my teachers call "white privilege." This refers to Koreans that will randomly approach you and perform outlandish favors. This includes paying for your meals, showing you around, and providing generous goods and services to complete strangers. I have yet to pay for a meal for my teachers or anyone else. It's simply impossible. Any attempt to pay the bill is foiled. If you blink, they'll have snatched it from your hands and run off to the counter before you can do anything about. It's nice, and I think it has to do with them showing hospitality. We're guests in their country and they want to be cordial and impress us with their hospitality.

A lot of it is wonderful and people are extremely warm and genial. It really is great to experience these acts of kindness in a foreign land. But I am getting tired of it. Often when riding the subway, people will come up to me to practice their English. This brings out a forced conversation where I have to hear about their favorite TV shows from America. I'm glad people are interested in English enough to approach a stranger and thankful that they're kind to me, but I don't really care. Oh, you've been to America before? So has the man who talked to me on the last train, and the time before that and that. It's just bothersome.

So that's the attitude that I initially went into this dinner with. I assumed that these three gentlemen who were friend with Tane were doofs. Mr. Park is a Presbyterian who is overly enthusiastic about sharing his faith. I was told another was named Master Lee and was some sort of martial arts mystic. I was told the last was a body builder who couldn't speak any English. They all chain smoke too. So I was not particularly excited going into this. I thought about not going since I had to pack up and move the next day, but I decided that I should take all the opportunities I can whether I like it or not. I was wrong about my judgments.

Whale
In talking about the dinner, I thought I would just seperate it into bite sized pieces that are of their own accord. The restaurant we went to was near the gym and was of Japanese style. There were many different dishes in front of us to start out. One of them, was whale. Whale meat comes from Japan and currently existed in a legal gray area that is more than likely illegal. I know it's illegal in Korea, but apparently the restaurant owner knows a smuggler that brings it in. It was prepared sashimi style (raw or hwe), and had a small pile of salt for dipping. The whale itself was odd. The meat was of a black and gray coloration with a large tuft of yellow fat on one end with a small layer of skin. It was very unusual and had a very rich and buttery taste. I'm probably a bad person for enjoying it and perpetrating their hunting, but I've always said that I'd try cannibalism if I got the chance so I'm not going to start splitting hairs here.

Octopus
Another culinary treat we were privy to was live octopus. This is an old fashioned delicacy here. A small octopus is stretched out and it's tentacles are chopped into bites and seasoned with sesame oil and green onions. Once again, it's sort of gruesome dish, but see the above people eating statement for my views on eating curiosity. They set the plates in front of us and the dinner wriggled and crawled around on the platter. When I reached down to select a morsel with my chopsticks, I started a tug-of-war match because it did not want to leave the plate. The little bits of arms gripped the plate and fought to be lifted up. Once I finally freed a piece, I placed it in my mouth to savor the experience. The bit of critter inched across my tongue with its suction cups and latched onto my teeth. I "chom chomed", as they put it, and then swallowed. It's vital that you don't try to eat it whole because it can latch onto the inside of your throat and you'll suffocate. I'm still alive though and if you come to visit me, we'll find you some octopus.

The Boyos
The three gym friends were extremely kind. They took great pains to remember our names and even made a cheat sheet so they could pronounce them correctly and remember them. I was extremely appreciative of that. They did think of some nick names and celebrity look alikes for us. They wondered about my sideburns and thought I looked like Elvis. I don't see the resemblence personally. They called Danny Michelangelo, and later clarified that they meanat Michelangelo's David statue. Is Danny a model of the perfect man? They think so. They said Tane looked like James Dean, but then also called him puny. So I'm not sure what to make of their look-a-like game. They smoked for the whole meal and a great time was had by all.

Mr. Park is a former securities trader and gave us a long talk about the markets. Master Lee appears to be incredibly qualified as a fitness expert. When he first arrived, he examined Danny's back and just from feeling, he discerned that his hips were out of alignment and that one of his shoulders was overdeveloped. He then did several chiropractic techniques at the table. Afterwards he did a long demonstration of take down moves and different fighting styles. He showed us Karate, Taekwando, Tiger style, and many others. Danny was the dummy and Master Lee demonstrated all the different places and ways you could break someones joints and cripple them. They mentioned that they felt blessed to meet us and it did their hearts well to know us. In the end, I can't wait to have dinner with them again. I just hope that I'm able to treat them some day.