Amanda Takes Off...

Last night Master and I had soju together. We haven't had soju together since he met Good Man.

Good Man was supposed to join us, but he was stuck working until 12 am in Ansan, so he couldn't come. Master's Brother and the Sabumnim from his school were also supposed to join us, but that Sabumnim was teaching swimming and Master's Brother's Wife is 4 months pregnant, so they were spending the evening together.

So...it ended up being Master, our new Police Officer Sabumnim for a while and another friend of Master's for a while.

Master always speaks English better when he drinks soju, but since Officer was there, I tried to speak Korean. I've only met her twice and she's very shy and I was trying to make her more comfortable. She's not used to drinking soju and I taught her the rules, which Master found very funny.

Shortly before Officer left (around midnight) another friend of his came over. This man is one year older than us (his birthday is the last day of this year) and they met at a military training. He owns a Lucky supermarket in the market area.

Lucky had never met a foreigner before, so he was really fascinated by me. He kept asking all these questions and then I'd start to answer and he'd freak out and ask Master what I was saying. Master and his wife kept saying, "Listen to her! She's speaking Korean!"

I know Master and his wife understand me very well because they're used to me, my accent (North Korean!), we have our own little language and the like. But I think part of this guy's problem was that he's so unused to hearing foreigners speak Korean. I don't think it was simply an accent thing, I think it was some sort of a mental block.

Lucky was extremely interested in the fact that I am dating a Korean. Master said something about my boyfriend and he said, "What? Who is he? Is he Korean?... He's KOREAN?"

I have no idea why this was so interesting to him. He kept asking why I love Good Man. Well, really, how do you explain that?

I said that Americans, Koreans, Chinese, Europeans, black, white, yellow, are all different but that their hearts are the same. I said that language and food and culture may be different but that heart, mind, and ki (energy) are the same.

I'm not sure he believed me though.

He kept pushing, why do I love my boyfriend? I said, "Do you have a girlfriend?"

"I've had many girlfriends."

"And why did you like them?"

He laughed, "Because I am a man!"

"OK, same thing."

Master thought I wasn't understanding the question and repeated it in English. I fully understood what he was asking, but when I'd answered "[Good Man]'s smart and nice and kind and I think he's handsome. I like him" that hadn't been good enough.

I said, "When we are together, we have fun."

But my answer still wasn't enough. Master asked me the question again for Lucky. I turned it on him. His wife was sitting next to me. I said, "Master! Why do you love your wife? Master's Wife, why do you love your husband?"

They looked at each other across the table, smiled, and she blushed. Master said, "OK, Amanda, I understand." He then said something to Lucky to get him to understand.

But Lucky was still interested in knowing why I'd ever date a Korean man because "foreign women don't like Korean men."

I asked why he thought that and he said that Westerners have stereotypes. I laughed and said Koreans had stereotypes about us, too and then started listing them, including "Korean men don't like foreign women."

After that I said, "I think many Western women think Korean men are too traditional. But..." Here I was a little uncomfortable because Master's wife was sitting next to me and I didn't want her to misunderstand me. But I think she knows me well enough to know that Master and I just friends, so I continued. "I came to Korea. And I met Master and his brother the first day. And I practiced taekwondo every week with Master and he is very nice. And his wife is very nice. And his kids and my little brothers and sisters. And I met my temporary Master and he was very nice. So I think not all Korean men are like ajosshis." (Master laughed at that.) "Some Korean men are not good. Some American men are not good. Some European men are not good. It's the same in every country. But some people are good. It's the same in every country."

That answer seemed satisfactory enough.

His wife and I got to chat a bit more when Master and Lucky were going on about I don't know what. She asked me a bit about my first date with Good Man. Then, when we were done, Lucky asked what our first date was like. Master's Wife and I both just laughed.

Lucky was so curious about me that I had to ask if he'd ever met a foreigner. He hadn't and I said he had a lot of questions. He said he wanted to form a closer relationship. I said, "I know. We are drinking soju together, so now we are friends!"

Master laughed and said, "See! She is very Korean!"

Lucky asked how I learned Korean and Master and I started talking about my studying at the studio, on my own, with language partners and Michael. Lucky was really surprised that I came to the studio speaking no Korean. I was really surprised that I was using the past, present, future tenses, "if...then," when, after, before, and must grammar patterns correctly.

Master's kids were cranky and we threatened them that Santa wouldn't come. Master called Santa and told him that if his kids weren't good, he couldn't come. I asked if kids put out milk and cookies for Santa here and they don't. I explained the tradition and said, "Maybe, in Korea, Santa drinks soju." Can you imagine? Soju and kimchi for Santa!

Apparently I was really on the ball last night because Master kept laughing at what I intended to be jokes.

Master's Wife kept the food coming and made some frozen crushed raspberry slush to mix with the soju. Master had frozen some soju beforehand, so I said "얼음 소주 머리가 아플 거 예요!" I will get an ice soju headache. Master promised I wouldn't. I have always wondered why his wife doesn't drink with us. She said she gets sick whenever she drinks, so now she just doesn't.

Since Good Man couldn't come, Master asked me to call him. Good Man apologized for not being able to join us and asked how I was going to get home. Master said I was going to take a taxi and that I was fine. Then I talked to Good Man, who asked me the same things. I said, "[Good Man], I heard Master tell you. I'm fine, I'll take a taxi home."

"OK, I just worry about you."

"But I'm with my Korean family. I'm OK."

When I did leave (after 1 am), Master and Lucky went out for beer. They invited me, but I knew better than to continue the evening any further. I am not Korean. I will break up a group.

The only problem was that Master told the taxi driver that I spoke excellent Korean. He was doing this to try and prevent the guy from screwing me on the price, but the guy then asked me questions the whole way home (about 25 mins) when my head hurt and I just wanted to sleep.