Mandu and a night out

So let me tell you about my Friday night, after the tests and a full week I felt like something special was required so I went out to dinner with some co-workers. We couldn't decide upon what to eat with the options ranging from pickled cabbage to Chinese food. We finally decided that the best option would be some dumplings (mandu) so we head to the local mandu house.

The place we find is great its a small hole in the wall with tin roof ceilings and wood palette walls. Makes me think of what 1950's Korea would look like if they had steady electricity (they might have had that I really know nothing about Korea after the Japanese were pushed out, and making sweeping generalizations seems to work for others so why not me?). Let's just say the place looked pretty cool. So me and two co-workers sit down at this little table and begin to decide what we want to eat. It is shortly after we sit down that I notice that they have glass bottles of Coca Cola and I think it is awesome I so I immediately order one, complete with Hangul characters and all. This is where a picture would be fantastic, but I didn't bring my camera because I was foolish. After having a delicious coke, we order what appears to be a platter of dumplings. I should mention that John one of the guys with me is almost fluent in Korean so he handles the responsibility of ordering the food for us. What we get brought to us is not in fact delicious dumplings but a soup of some sort. Now this is not your ordinary soup but actually a fish soup of sorts complete with a whole octopus, headed shrimp, various shells (including one that I think might be a conch) and a bunch of interesting looking mushrooms. Now I will say when you enter into a dumpling house you expect many things but I for one did not expect a full octopus or shells, but this is Korea after all. I attempt to start eating the soup but the matron shoos me away and informs us that the food is not yet cooked and needs more time to be safe to eat. Yay! So we get to stare at the various sea creatures and think about how could we have gone so far astray from our original plans. Finally after some grueling minutes we are given the all clear and are allowed to tuck in. Here's the thing, the food is delicious, absolutely delightful. And better yet hidden under the seafood platter is none other than mandu dumplings. Turns out to be one of the better meals that I have had in K-town, and to think it all happened with what appeared to be a great mistake.

So we eat and pay the establishment and go about our merry way. On the way to the taxi stand we come across a bad-ass looking radish, (I am going to return to the alley just to take pictures of the radish) and a hilarious cartoon about Korean restaurants. It is when we are about 7 minutes away from the restaurant that we notice this woman running behind us attempting to flag us down. It appears that our credit card didn't go through as planned and we have to return to the restaurant. My question is how did this lady find us, oh yea there's like 5 white guys in the entire city and I am with 2 of them, really inconspicuous us. So it is at this point that I am told that in Korea when you use your credit card you receive a text message from the bank telling you of your purchase, kind of an interesting way to avoid identity theft. We pay again (maybe only once but who can be sure I was still in a stupor from the mandu) and head out to meet up with some friends in Wolpeyong-dong (dong=neighbor hood, think Adam's Morgan).

We arrive at the bar and I meet some of the most interesting characters that you could imagine. I met a British dude that had been in the country for about 5 minutes but already seeing the sights, coincidentally it is this same British dude that begins to ask people if they know where the prostitutes hang out. Such a lovely place England. I also met some lovely Irish folks, Eddie, Finton, Aoife, and one whose name escapes me. I had a lovely conversation about art, where I learned once again that Pissaro is not a pointillists, but Seurat, or is it the reverse? Who can be sure, surely not I. I did manage to hold my own in the round table discussion of arts and leisure and also managed to convince the girls to check a guy named Ansel, because they had no idea who he was. After my lovely conversation of art I manage to meet my first taste of home, and by that I mean Korean Maggie. Korean Maggie is a girl that has been in the country for only a few weeks but works in the same neighborhood as I do, and the reason she is called Korean Maggie (real name Cassie) is that she looks exactly the same as DC Maggie or as she likes to be called Mags to riches. So similar is her appearance that I am fairly certain I questioned her lineage to find out if the two were related. (She claims not to know of anyone named Downing but I know the truth). So I must befriend her and claim her picture so that the folks back home can weigh in on my boast.

Until next time kiddos,
Papa Duck out.