Wendy's

Today, my dear friends, is April 2, 2010. In certain branches of the Christian faith, this means it is officially 'Good Friday'. "Dante's Inferno" spins a stunningly vivid tale that begins on this very date in 1300, following Dante's journey through 9 circles of Hell. I mention this because I had a thought today... a crazy idea, maybe, but a thought that bothered to stick with me; and what my brain suggested was this:

If the poem strikes any truth, by chance, and there are 9 levels of Hell; perhaps there are just as many levels of Heaven. Perhaps the amazing outpour of love, affection, hugs, and warm wishes that saw us off was the first ring? Perhaps our landing, cushioned by kind new friends, a cozy new home, and a beautiful bustling city, was the second. Hmmmmm.

Mind you, the "Hmmmm" has a special inflection. It starts at a middle tone, and sing-songs down the throat to a bass note. It's neither short nor long. I notice this sound of thinking in the speech of every person I have spoken with at length here- child or adult, Korean or American... Or Canadian, for that matter. It's catchy. It allows an extra second to think out a reply, or it can end a conversation. "Yes, that was one of the craziest days of my life! Hmmmmmm."

Joshua, a fellow Atlanian ESL teacher at our school, took Kevin and I around the downtown area today- showing us important places to remember like the bank, the post office, the Baskin Robbins, a small grocer that has real cheese and chips and salsa! We ate SamBap (spelling may be off), cooked over a fire at the table- pork and onions we made lettuce wraps of with all the trimmings, as usual (these people know how to satisfy a taste for variety at the table!) A local that Joshua knew came in and taught us to say 'bathroom' in Korean, and the three of us practiced several rounds before realizing we were just chanting "BATHROOM!" again and again in a busy restaurant. oops. Once I grasped the word securely I went to the cashier to ask where it was, but had to cross back across the restaurant to grab my shoes from the front door, carried them across the restaurant to the back door, put them on, went outside and down a hall to where she had pointed, then realized it is a national fact that you, the individual, are solely responsible for your toilet paper needs. Ah, a city-wide fact, I guess... I'll see if it's nation wide tomorrow when we go to Seoul. But more importantly- this FOOD, I do declare! THIS FOOD!

With the feast of a king before me with no filling soda and minimal starches involved, I don't so much get full as I get tired of eating! Chopstick assembly line with a million options for every bite! I just wear out of the activity after a while!

We are moving to a bigger apartment downstairs in 20 days- and today some ladies from our school brought over some stuff for us: Come to think of it, it was a tiny bit Eastery- walking into our apartment after work to find a bunch of presents inside the doorway! We got new pots and pans and utensils, cleaning supplies, a drying rack for clothes (dryers are RARE here), shampoo, a tea pot and coffee maker. With this new stuff I was prepared to try my hand at cooking! These are some pics of my first Korean cuisine attempt: It went fairly well! Buckwheat noodles, tofu, sesame leaves, some very potent horseradish oil, some nuts... and some fresh apples... oh, yeah, and KIMCHI!

Kevin's working at figuring out what the settings on the washing machine say. We're going to see SHIRA tomorrow in Seoul, and have dinner with about 100 other white strangers. The weather is at perfect, my heart is light, my brain is being fully stimulated for the first time in much too long, and I think we're entering the third circle soon.

Love.

footnotes:

*any mention of heaven/hell were used hypothetically and poetically

*no animals were hurt in the making of this post or this meal