An Official Welcome

We had been complaining about the fact that we hadn’t been invited to any Koreans’ homes. It seemed really odd to us. When we were living in the United States, we had dinner parties on a regular basis. Dinner parties seem like a very common thing for Americans, especially when they are welcoming new friends from different countries. It is a simple way of showing that one cares. We have built some really good relationships with our co-teachers, people at our church, and other Korean friends, and it was surprising that none of them had offered to have us over for dinner. After complaining to my parents one evening, my dad brought up the fact that most Koreans probably assume Westerners have big, fancy houses and so they feel self-conscious about their homes, therefore, they have not invited us over.

Finally, after waiting for three months, Seth’s jolly 52 year-old co-teacher invited us to his home for his birthday. Last night, we dined and reclined with his family on the floor. He lives with his mother and son. His wife died about six months ago from cancer. His mother made us a delicious Korean meal consisting of the following: noodles and crab meat, dried and then fried peppers, extra sticky rice, ribs in red pepper sauce, grilled fish (with all of the skin and bones of course), spicy squid tentacles in red pepper sauce, a small fish delicacy in red pepper sauce, ginger leaves, dried and then fried seaweed, seaweed soup, Kimchi, Jeju Island oranges, Korean pears, apples, wine, and Paris Baguette cake. As you can imagine, we were stuffed.

The apartment was very close to how I imagined a Korean home would look. It was on the 11th floor of a huge concrete apartment complex (surrounded by many other of the exact same apartment complexes of course). The floors were a fake wood tile that is prevalent in Korea. There were many pictures of the family and some very simple but striking paintings of Buddha. There were no couches, or recliners, or beds. The family sits, eats, and sleeps on the floor like many Korean families. In the porch way, many unique plants grew and laundry was hanging to dry. The kitchen was small and had only a two burner stove with a small toaster oven below it. His mother did much of the dinner preparations on the floor. We really appreciated being invited to someone’s home. We left feeling very satisfied and like we had finally had an official welcome to Korea!