Some Days Surprise Me

Today started out like any other normal day. My plan was to meet up with two friends for coffee in the morning, read for a while, and then meet with my eye doctor for dinner around 6p. So I met my Korean friend Stephanie and her friend from her university, an arrangement that was created to give the friend, Su Jung, some practice speaking English with a native before her impending trip to America next spring. I agreed to go because I've gotten to the point where I really enjoy meeting new people at coffee shops, provided I'm not tired and they are reasonably good at speaking English. So we met at this awesome coffee shop that was designed to resemble an indoor garden--it was pretty impressive. The three of us shared a muffin, a slice of walnut pie, and various hot drinks as we chatted. Su Jung was extremely shy at first, as is typical, but it wasn't long before we had a good conversation going and her English improved tremendously the more she spoke. Two hours passed in what seemed like less than half that, which was when I suggested we go to a board game cafe to talk over a game. I'd never been to a board game cafe, but I'd heard there was one in the area, and sure enough they knew roughly where it was, so we entered what otherwise would have been a normal coffee shop. The differences were the unexpected amounts of middle school children and board games scattered throughout the place instead of studious adults sipping lattes. We settled into a nice spot and sampled the "menu" of what had to have been fifty games that you can choose from before deciding on Rummikub, a Korean standby. By the way, a board game cafe costs around $2 per hour per person, which seemed pretty reasonable. After two consecutive defeats, I suggested we go for lunch, and Stephanie led us to a fancy restaurant that I'd never noticed before in the downtown area. I felt like I wasn't in Korea while I was in that place, because the decor was made to look European and the servers were completely different from those at a typical place. We each had a different kind of spaghetti (there are about twelve kinds available at this particular place) and enjoyed the complementary desserts, by which time it was 4p. Stephanie had to leave for work at this time, which left me with the decision to continue the outing with Su Jung or to go solo, but as Su Jung had proved to be a remarkably cute and endearing companion, we decided to see a movie together after dinner. As we walked to the theater to get the tickets (you have to buy them a bit in advance here because you reserve seats at the same time--ingenious, I think!) we passed an outdoor concert hosted by a local church. So we made our purchase and returned to watch the "contemporary Christian dance" by the youth group, a voiceless dramatic presentation of the early parts of Genesis, a video about missions, and some Korean drummers drumming.
Now came the tricky part of the evening. I was scheduled to have dinner with my eye doctor at a nice restaurant populated mostly by foreigners called The Holy Grill. It's more expensive than most places, and my doctor was treating (in recompense for writing a recommendation for his practice to go on his website), but now I had Su Jung with me and I wasn't sure if it was okay. Nevertheless, she and I went and got a table to await Dr. Kim. Evidently he was running late and felt sorry about it, and he seemed a bit fidgety, which was totally out of character. I told him it was no problem when he apologized for his tardiness, and used the opportunity to introduce Su Jung and ask about his wife. Bad move. He quite openly told us that he'd just finished having a fight with his wife, which partly accounted for his late arrival, and in his unease he knocked over his full glass of water all over the table and onto my suddenly soaking jacket. Needless to say it was not the bright opening one wishes to have at such a meeting. However, once we all laughed out the awkwardness of the situation things went smoothly. Dr. Kim told us about his multiple trips to the US and about his interest in Taoist meditation, and we ate Philly cheese steaks while Su Jung had a shrimp salad. (Not sure why I'm insisting on adding such mundane details...sorry). Near the end of the dinner another sticky situation arose. We had bought our movie tickets for the 7:30p showing, and it was 7:15 as Dr. Kim was explaining the need for inner peace and communication that comes from meditation, so I didn't exactly want to interrupt the man who was buying our pricey dinner to tell him we were leaving him to see a movie. So I silently prayed that it would all work out, and a minute later, he asked what our plans were for the evening. This gave us a neat exit for the theater, and we arrived just as the previews were ending. We saw Blindness, a strangely filmed movie that portrays an apocalyptic scenario resulting from an infectious blindness. The irritating parts of the movie for me were that it was never explained what caused the initial outbreak, nor what the cure was, nor why one of the characters was immune to the disease throughout the film. Other than that, it was thought-provoking and interestingly filmed in such a way that the audience occasionally experiences the blindness of the characters, but I wouldn't see it again or recommend it to others. Following the movie we went to Stephanie's coffee shop, conveniently located nearby, and shared a black tea latte. I thought it would be disgusting, but it was delicious and free.

The week itself, not counting today, was pretty average. I played lots of word games on Facebook, read a bit, and worked more than usual. I'm still getting over my cold, so I hope it will leave soon. I also figured out my home heating system with the help of my Korean coworker, so now I can heat my house to avoid freezing while I sleep. Oh, and as it's Thanksgiving back home, we are celebrating next Saturday by eating some turkey (I hope--I haven't had any since I've been here...) and other Pilgrimish delicacies. I'm looking forward to it, and I hope all of you who read to the end have a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner back home!