Our First Korean Restaurant Meal Flying Solo

On our last day at the fortress, a group of us finally decided to try to do something worthwhile on campus. We eventually decided on checking out the hiking trail at the side of the university. Had I known the trail was there before, I probably would’ve climbed it much sooner. Unfortunately, we decided on the trail far too late in the day, and we only got 0.5 km up the steep 3.0 km trek before turning around with concerns about the sun setting.

It was impressive, however, to see seniors walking up and down the trail at such casual speeds without so much as breaking a sweat. Made me feel like a slob.

We decided to hit up a restaurant down at the foot of the hill for dinner. This would be our first venture into the world of Korean restaurants. We took off our shoes and had a seat on the floor around our low-lying tables.

I used the only Korean I knew at the time to order a beer, having learned it the other night from Amanda and Jon (maegju hanajuseyo). As for food, I had heard great things about a dish called bibimbap (pronounced beebimbap). It was a delicious plate of rice, veggies, and egg. 

 

The hilarious part was that the server had to not only instruct me on how to put my meal together, but after she was not impressed with how I was going about it, she just took over and put everything together for me. (Apparently I didn't know how to pour my bowl of rice into the dish correctly.) The gang had a good laugh, though, and thankfully she also did the same thing for Kat. I certainly felt like a useless tool. And to make matters worse, the woman stood over me, watching me eat, perhaps to gauge my satisfaction with the meal. I approved of the delicious meal, and she walked away, seemingly satisfied. Sadly, that wouldn't be my last awkward eating experience.

 Bibimbap

Our first night eating out on our own!