Christmas Dinner

P1010624
Originally uploaded by kirijae

We had our school end of year dinner on Wednesday night, which meant going to a local Korean restaurant which served eel. This was my first time having eel, and I have to say it was really delicious. I'd always thought that there was something a little offputting about eating eel, which is probably silly because it's just another type of fish, right? Well I am definitely turned around on the subject, because it's probably about my third most favourite dish that I've had here.
School dinners are always a bit of a challenge to be anticipated with a vague feeling of dread. This is mostly due to the fact that nobody speaks English, so I spend the two to three hours trying to look interested in a conversation that I can't understand whilst desperately trying to find ways to make the floor a more comfortable place to sit. There's also a lot of etiquette to be observed, mostly regarding the drinks. I haven't quite nailed it to be honest, so I have resorted to just drinking water, which means that I don't have to worry about toasting people just to take a sip, and I can pour for myself and not have to worry too much if other people's drinks are getting low although I should probably still pour them a drink if their glass is empty - it's a definite pheux pas to leave someone's glass empty.
Finally there's the difficulty of actually eating the food; don't get me wrong, I think that I have become fairly accomplished with the use of chopsticks, but there is nothing quite like having to reach across the table with your chopsticks to pick up some jelly-like morsel that will just not stay on your chopsticks. Time slows, and you start to sweat as you become convinced that the entire table is staring at you as you struggle to pick the damn thing up, but instead you're just mashing it into an unrecognizable lump that you eventually have to spear onto one chopstick and pray that it doesn't slide off on its way back to your plate. Korean style eating means lots of small dishes on the table that everyone shares, not your own meal, so I spend most of the dinner holding my breath each time I go for another bite. I probably shouldn't worry so much; the other teachers are incredibly kind to me and I doubt that they ever think a bad thing about my chopstick exertions. That's what I console myself with anyway.
On another note I got another care package from the library guys last night, so exciting! The box was already falling apart, so I pretty much ripped it to shreds to get at the goodies inside. Thank you so much guys, I was so happy to be able to put some Christmas cards up and I was getting pretty desperate for something to read. I will have to pace myself on the lollies as about half of them disappeared in the excitement last night :-)