Barbecue

After church we all headed out for the BBQ. Dave bought meat not just for the 29 people who signed up to come, or for the 5 extra "maybe" people, but for 50 people. Well, since that many people ended up coming, that was a good thing! What happened to "RSVP???" We had hot dogs and bulgogi. (What exactly IS bulgogi, anyway? Usually it's beef cut up into bite-sized pieces, marinated, and barbecued. Sometimes it's pork, while sometimes it's cooked a little differently. Just think, "meat.") The two Johns kids rode on the bus with some of us to show us where to get off. Drizzling rain lasted all day, but the house was plenty big enough for everyone. Carpet!!

I talked to Professor Cho and his wife for quite awhile. When I pass an older person I often wish we could communicate so I could hear first-hand what the Korean War was like. Before I always thought that it would have to be an ancient person to remember the war. But in my conversation with Professor Cho (he teaches some kind of difficult science at Ulsan University) he told me how he met his wife (also Korean) when they were in graduate school in the USA during the early 1960s. The math of it didn't hit me until later--if he was in graduate school then, he has at least some memory of the war. But how to bring it up? I don't know how appropriate talking about the war is. I don't want to risk offending or upsetting him. He's really dignified, yet personable. Remembering the sad events of the past, especially if bad things happened within his family . . . and depending on his age (I really had never thought of him as that old before) he might have even fought in the war (although I don't think he's quite that old). Hmmm . . . something to think about. We talked a lot about the USA--his 2 children live there, along with his grandchildren. He wants to retire there, but isn't sure where. His wife ruled out Florida after hearing that there are no mountains there. (She likes hiking.) Talking with them at church I hadn't realized that they both spoke such good English! But to attend GRADUATE school in the USA, they'd have to. To be overseas in the turbulent period of the 1960s probably means they came from wealthy and politically powerful families. Anyway, it was an enjoyable conversation (especially when compared to the English teachers talking about work). I met some new foreigners who live near the foreigners' compound, so it wouldn't be feasible for us to get together often.

The food worked out fine. Only fruit for dessert, but that's fairly common here. Plenty of food for everyone, and plenty of variety. When Dave bought the meat he also bought the hot dog buns—lucky me! The things that looked like hamburger buns actually had a thin layer of some kind of cream in the middle of them. They were OK, but wouldn't have tasted good with meat! So another project finished and another sigh of relief. Now it's back to working on the website!

Around 6 PM lots of us bus people headed back to the city proper. It took a full hour to get back to Mugeo-dong. We were all tired from the excitement and the food that we weren't used to (both the type and the quantity). I did nothing of value after getting home, and then went to sleep early.