Tuesday was one of my friends' last days at school. With her contract complete, she's on her way home to Michigan this morning. Naturally, she's been partying every night this week and taking every opportunity to remind everyone that - she doesn't have to work tomorrow! I'm jealous, but happy that she'll make it home for Christmas this year. After teaching in Korea for the past 2 years, and planning to returning in January, she's overdue for some family time.
With one teacher gone, so another one arrives to take her place. Which means, I'm no longer the newbie at my school! So on Wednesday night the Korean and Foreign staff at my school enjoyed a going away/welcome dinner on Sally...and it was nothing less than amazing.
We went to a awesome doenjang restaurant about 5 minutes from my apartment in Haeundae. The place was illuminated by mini waterfalls flowing around an outdoor patio, I made a mental note to return during warmer weather. Doenjang is essentially fermented soybean paste - a staple dish here in Korea. It doesn't sound (or smell!) appetizing, but it makes for one amazing meal. It can be eaten raw as a condiment, or cooked in a variety of ways.
This restaurant specialized in doenjang jigae, a type of bean paste stew cooked with a variety of vegetables and tofu. We spooned ours onto multigrain rice, and mixed with condiments and other veg dishes like seasoned eggplant and fiddlehead. It's one of my favorite things about Korean dining, every meal includes at least 5 or 6 side dishes...so much colour and variety, always a rainbow on your table. And absolutely everything is eaten 'family style'.
Before the doenjang jigae, we feasted on several massive platters of roasted pork tenderloin with vegetables. You place the meat and veg in sesame bud leaves, season them with garlic, hot paste, or sweet sauce, and wrap them into bite sized pieces to pop in your mouth. Pork is the most widely eaten meat here (beef is super expensive) and I'm not usually a fan - I would rather eat seafood or chicken - but this stuff was really, really good.
When the mounds of food first arrived to the table I thought, there is no way we will get through even half of it. I found out a half hour later it was only the first course. Typical Korean, just when you think your dinner is over and you can't physically eat another bite, more food arrives. No wonder meals here last several hours.
All in all, it was a successful night, and really great to spend time with the Korean staff outside of work. It's amazing how well you can manage to communicate with someone who speaks a completely different language. Perhaps my favorite part was grilling Sally about her college days. She spent 1 year studying on exchange in New York City (hands down, my favorite place in the world) so naturally, I had to ask about it. She said it had been a dream of hers ever since seeing the movie When Harry Met Sally. "Actually," she shared, "that is where I chose my English name - I wanted to be Sally".
I nodded in enthousiastic approval, "Excellent choice."
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