[Katherine]: In a previous life I had no aching joints, back or general old lady style hobbling issues and would have been completely able to handle the Korean dining experience - alas that is no more, so when I go out for a meal in a traditional Korean restaurant it's always a bit of a challenge! I'm practically crippled anyway and sitting on a wooden floor for 2 hours kind of makes me actually unable to move - one of these days I'll be carted off in a stretcher!
Before I came to Korea I knew that people in the East (and I'm talking about Japan as I didn't know dot about Korea before I started applying to work here) ate on the floor and everything, but I must admit I thought it was a tradition and was only done on special occassions! Obviously, that was very naive of me (to be fair this whole year has displayed how important RESEARCH is when embarking on life changing journeys) and it's a culture that's very alive and well. It's perfectly normal here to just sit on the floor and have no couches in the front room or dining table in the kitchen. I'm not judging that -it's just it hurts my old lady bones so bad! The worst thing is, as Koreans are all super flexible (being used to sitting like this all their lives), I am always completely shamed by the old ajummas and ajoshis who can sit on the floor with their legs crossed behind their heads!!
Due to the fact that we don't like Korea food, Greg and I don't eat in Korean restaurants very often, but this week we were invited out for 'toasted duck' (duck barbeque) by Greg's friend and English Conversation partner Won Chul and his wife and friends. Won Chul is a nice guy and we didn't want to be rude and turn down a dinner invitation, plus we really like duck and with a bbq you don't have to put all the weird sauce on the food. Koreans eat A LOT and there are always about 30 side dishes with every meal. I usually stick to salad, corn and mushrooms and avoid the dead/live squid, fish eyes and various other treats! The Koreans we went with were very friendly and attended to our every whim - getting me and Greg forks despite the shame I'm sure it brought in the restaurant community!
As predicted, the restaurant was a floor sitter, but we got a private room and it was quite nice. I had 3 shots of soju, to be polite of course! Unfortunately, this has led Won Chul to believe that I am some kind of demon alkie so that's not good - clearly he never saw what I used to put away on a night out in Oldham/Lancaster/London! Anyway, I needed the booze to get me through 2 hours of total pain sitting on the floor of the restaurant. As always, I started off with my legs tucked under my body but within 15 minutes I had the inevitable pins and needles. So, I moved my legs to my left side for about 10 minutes until that became unbearable, then I crossed my legs for a bit and then swung around to the right side, kicking Greg in the process! This whole saga meant that there was no possible way for me to enjoy my meal as I was constantly just fidgeting, cracking bones, and being traumatised about the next possible 'leg option'. So, whilst I'm sure sitting on the floor is great for people have done it all their lives, I think I will have to pass from now on, another reason to cross eating Korean food off my, 'Why I don't eat Korean food' list!
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