Amanda Takes Off...

It's a good thing my parents are only here for a week because when they're here, they conspire with Master to make me do my pushups.

Yesterday (Mom's birthday) we went to the green tea fields and bamboo forest. It was a very nice—but exhaustinig—trip. And it was my first time using the Korean train system.

Today we went to 창덕궁(Changdoek Palace) and got soaked. Usually this palace is only open via tour to help preserve it. However, on Thursdays you can pay five times the normal price to get in without being on a tour (only 1000 people a day). Even though it was raining, it was nice to go out without being in a tour group because it was very quiet and it was easier to take your time, take photos, and so on.

George and Amanda at Changdeok Palace

Tonight we had dinner with Master and his family. Mom and George had said that they'd like to meet Master and his family again, so yesterday I invited them out to the palace with us today. Master called back and said they couldn't come because it'd be raining, so we invited them out to dinner instead. Master was kind enough to find a Korean barbeque place near our hotel. He made a reservation and we chowed down on various foods.

My Families

Master's Daughter Plays With My Handphone

Master's Children Play With My Handphone

Rawrr!

Master's Daughter Takes a Photo of Both of Them

I was really happy that my parents ate Korean-style, since they'd said before they got here that they wouldn't. (To be fair, they have eaten that way several times, including yesterday with two college students we'd met who saved our butt at one point on our tea tour.) Dinner was pleasant, but Mom was pushing my Korean language skills way beyond my current level. "Tell Kwanjangnim..." Then, as I was trying to simplify and collect my thoughts in Korean, she'd interrupt me. We all know how well that's worked in the past... I was going a little crazy.

Master, Mom and I had three bottles of soju together, Master and I downing most of it.

In Korea, it's a big deal to pay for dinner. Generally the person doing the inviting or the oldest person pays. People will argue—animatedly—at the register over who will pay. I've argued a few times with friends, but one of us has always acquiesced fairly quickly. I have, however, never argued with Master when we've gone out together because I knew he'd never let me pay since he was always doing the inviting, since he's older (even if only by seven weeks!) and since he's Master.

I knew we were going to have to argue over dinner. For months I have occasionally considered how I would argue in Korean if we all went out for dinner together and I warned my parents that we'd have to argue.

As soon as we left the room we'd been eating in (Master had reserved a large room for us), we started arguing. Master had the check in his hand and wouldn't give it up. I started with "No, Master, you always pay, please let us pay this time." Master and his wife countered with "When we come to America, you can pay." This went back and forth while Mom and George immediately said, "No, we're grandparents." Finally Master said, "Amanda, I'm Kwanjangnim!" I said, "Master, how old are you? My parents are grandparents..." Still, I had to mostly wrestle the check out of his hand.

After that much soju, I was happy to agree to coffee when Master asked if we wanted some coffee. We went to Outback (attached to our hotel) and had coffee, kiwi juice, and cheese fries. (We let them pay for the check there. ㅋㅋ)

Somehow my pushups came up. Master found out I haven't been doing them and mandated I do the knuckle position holding for thirty seconds twice, 54 pushups, and 10 striking stances. He made sure my parents promised to watch.

"But you are my friend! You are not 'kwajanjangnim' right now, you are 'Your Name!'"

"No, now, Kwanjangnim!" he teased.

While I was in the middle of doing sojuified pushups, I said to Mom and George, "When are you going home? Because I like it when I can skip my pushups."

George said, "Not soon enough to get out of this!"