A dinner party

Yesterday was my first day in the new IUSB tutoring office. The office is on the fourth floor of the library. I sit right up against the stacks, in the “philosophy of social science” section (this isn’t as titillating as it sounds).

The chairs are padded better than in the old office, but they don’t recline as nicely.

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I & Karin and Martin & Mary went to a dinner party given by H., a Korean – or, rather, it was given by his gringa mother-in-law, who is my boss in the high school English Dept. The food was cooked by H.’s wife, K. (my boss’s daughter). It was the Babette’s Feast of Korean food.

I was able to reminisce with H., K., and K.’s mother about Korea.

Didn’t you just love the train?, said K.’s mother (my boss).

It was a very good train, I said, but I didn’t love riding it to and from Seoul three hours every day. (H. and K. agreed about this.)

I told them that I mostly rode the Bundang Line. Ah, the Bundang Line, H. nodded vigorously. I hated the Bundang Line, put in K.

I also mentioned the protests against the American beef, and I said that my favorite thing about Korea was its DVD rooms.

You remember so much about Korea, they said.

Then, at M&M’s and Karin’s and my request, they brought out their dog, a Japanese Spitz, a little breed that is nonetheless a giant compared to most dogs in Korea. The dog’s name was “White Bear.” He yapped incessantly. A short while later, H. and K. put him away.

We ate two flavors of Korean ice-cream: Green Tea and Honeydew Melon. The dinner party was a great success.