Tonight when I was at dinner, a really nice thing happened. I was eating at Bob Kim, my favorite restaurant in Yeosu. Bob Kim is a little family run Korean fast food restaurant. Probably the equivalent of a diner back home. They have all the standard Korean fare. Mandu, kimbap, deop bap, chigae, ramen, and various toast sandwiches, just to name a few. I have never eaten something there that I haven't liked. Whats better than the food is the family that works there. A couple and one of their mothers works there, day in and day out. Their little 4 year old daughter can sometimes be seen running around greeting foreigners with an "Annyong haseyo!". Bob Kim is fast, delicious, and cheap. The most expensive thing on the menu is 5,000 won. About $4.30 US. I go there so much because if I'm going to eat food that is pretty standard all across town, I'd rather support the hardworking family that greets me everyday with a smile.
Tonight I got some chamchi deop bap, which is tuna (chamchi) in a tangy spicy sauce with kimchi, over rice. Bob Kim goes and makes it better by putting some kim (seaweed) flakes and a little shredded lettuce on it. Its hardy, hot, spicy, sour, and delicious. Perfect for a freezing night like tonight. Halfway through my dinner, the wife comes over to my table, smiles at me, and sets down a plate of 2 fried eggs. In Korea, this is called "service" (said like service-uh). Tons of places will service you a little something extra with your purchase. I've never heard of Bob Kim servicing anything before. Maybe they were concerned about my health and wellbeing or just wanted to thank me for being a repeat customer. I'll never know. All I do know is that it made me feel really good that these people who I can barely speak to (outside of hi, bye, thank you, and delicious) are that friendly to me.
On that same thought, next week a bunch of us are going to the orphanage to give the kids christmas presents. I haven't been there yet but I've seen peoples' pictures and the kids seem to have so much fun when everyone comes to visit. Its really nice that so many foreigners take time out of their lives to spend some time with kids that otherwise don't get that kind of attention.
And on a sort of a tangent, my students make me smile day in and day out. I found out that for winter camp I'll be teaching the first grade (7th grade) students. Today one of the first graders who always sits at the desk closest to where I stand, ran up to me and said he was in my winter camp group and how excited he was. The other day another one of my favorite first graders told me that he was going to be in my extra class next semester and that he was excited. I'm glad that my class brings fun to their study centric lives. Even though I know I'm not reaching all of my students, the ones that I do impact are extremely appreciative.
No comments:
Post a Comment