Shabu Shabu is the place to be

Greetings

Ah birthdays, absolutely the only good part about getting old. Who doesn’t love cake, ice cream, and presents? This year my birthday celebrations were great. Even though I missed all of my friends and family back home my new Korean friends helped us celebrate the day in true Korean fashion.

The first surprise came early in the morning when I walked into one of my favorite classes and found this on the white board:

I apologize for the picture (it was taken on a cell phone) but it captures the board well enough. My students not only drew such fine birthday representations like the cake and the presents, they also took the time to tell me that they loved me. Although I’m not even sure if they know what the sentence means I did find it a little strange to see it written several times. I guess it would have been much stranger if they little tykes had written “Die Teacher Die” alongside the “Happy Birthday” messages.

The best part of the whole thing is the names along the bottom. Eun Hyck signed his name beside the others even though he didn’t actually have anything to do with it. Smart kid, he will probably be the president one day. You can see how great of a teacher I am by the lack of spelling mistakes. I plan to have them reading novels by January, and sitting around coffee shops talking about Foucault and smoking pipes by next summer.

Anyway, after work my boss (Mrs. An) and my coworkers took us out for dinner at a local Shabu Shabu restaurant. Shabu Shabu is a hybrid dish that is both Korea and Japanese. It’s basically the same as a Chinese hotpot and it’s definitely our favorite Korean meal so far. The idea is that you cook all of the mushrooms and the beef in a spicy broth and then eat them alongside Kimchi, potato salad, and a half dozen other side dishes. After the main dish they bring out noodles and rice to boil as well.

They also bring Coca Cola which serves as desert.

Here is a picture of the whole setup. Korean meals are pretty complex and often contain several courses and dozens of things to eat. They also love dips of all kinds. The one you can see in the bottom of the picture is a wasabi and vinegar combo.

My dad's partner Dawn makes a great hotpot and this restaurant is the only place we have ever found that comes close to hers (don't worry Dawn, yours still wins). I should note that it took us a month to figure out that we were actually supposed to cook the meat. You would be surprised how tasty raw Korean beef is (Editor's note: Jo wanted to put "just joking" but I had faith that you wouldn't actually think we ate raw meat for a month...don't let me down).



This is the second stage of the meal. They bring out a plate of noodles and a bowl of mixed rice. You can choose which one you want to eat and we generally choose the noodles (they don't make your insides burn for hours on end, but that's a different story for a different day). This picture shows the rice dish in all its inferno glory.



Here's a picture of the whole crew. Oddly enough Joanna is the only one looking at the camera. Either she loves the attention or I'm that bad of a cameraman. The woman in the orange T-shirt is our boss and easily one of the most generous people we have ever met.

There are over 30 dishes on the table and only 26 of them are hot enough to put the "I" in IBS. In Korea that's a low number.



Here's a picture of Mrs. An, her son (in the green shirt) and his friends. I'm teaching them all right now and it's a great class. It's the only one where I can talk about life's important subjects. You know, kickboxing, women, politics, and videogames.




After the dinner they gave me a couple of presents including this great little pig. In Korea pigs are supposed to bring good luck. We plan on shipping a pig home to each and every one of you. So please clear some space on your mantelpiece. If you don't have a mantel you can put it on your coffee table or bedside table. Whatever works for you.

I also got socks (can't avoid those as a gift in any country it seems), a nice chocolate cake from Tim and Emily, new headphones, and a swack of books from Jo (yes, I said swack).




Ah, what birthday dinner would be complete without the Korean tradition of having a bowl of soup dumped on your lap by your girlfriend. Thanks again Jo for making this dream come true.

Well, that's it. I'm 24 years old now and life is flying by. It seems like tomorrow I will be 50.

Until then

Cheers

Shayne