A Day With The Lee's

Lee Children (L-R, Daughter 2, Son, Daughter 1)

This past Tuesday, Ed and I were taken on a tour of Yeosu by a very nice family, the Lees. They have three children, of whom I will refer to as Daughter No. 1, Daughter No. 2, and Son (they told us their names, but I have since forgotten--or should I say I forgot 5 minutes after meeting them). Daughters No 1 and No 2 are middle school students, and speak English quite well. So they were our translators for the day. How do we know the Lees?? Ed works with Mama Lee (who is also an English teacher), but our main communication through out the day was with Daughters. They took us to several places (pictures below) and took many pictures of Ed and I because our camera battery died.

Ed and I on Odongdo Island (resting!)

Lee Family (son, Daughter 2, Daughter 1, Mama Lee, Papa Lee)

Ed and I walking up many hills on Odongdo Island (notice the hair--sweaty and very sexy--and yes we had to be "arm in arm")

The end of Yeosu (yes, we were made to pose that way)

The Lee Family at M. Beach (I have no idea what the name of the beach was except that it started with a M)

Ed and I (hey we are matchy/matchy; very cool for Korea)

Thats Odongdo Island in the background.

General S. (again I have forgotten the name, but he is very famous for kicking Japan's ass in the 16th century).

Hey! Is that Ed and Jen??

Jinnamgwan Hall (National Treasure 304). Ed and I actually found this place the day before. We did the tour and everything. But we didn't tell the Lees because we didn't want to be rude. So we did the whole thing again, hoping that one of the volunteers wouldn't tell them that we were there the day before.

It seemed to work.

Dolson Bridge

I think Papa Lee just wanted a picture of my butt.

Ahhh, last picture of the day. Can't you see the happiness in all of our faces?? It was a very happy, but long day!

They also took us to our first "seafood" restaurant here. It was very expensive, and a very generous offer, and I can honestly say that I tried some stuff; but I'm not sure if I want seafood again. Because of battery issues, I was unable to capture the "essence" of this meal, so let me describe it for you.

Raw fish, cooked shrimp, cooked upper octopus (not the legs), some caviar (maybe??), more raw fish, stinky raw fish, fried sweet potato (which son ate a ton of--damn him!), some fried bony fish, surprise fish, and salad (when I say salad, I mean shredded cabbage and three cucumber slices, of which Ed and I fought over). Of course, Ed had to 'try' everything first before I would even pick it up. The Daughters thought I was funny. The parents maybe thought I was rude; but hell, I'm not putting octopus into my mouth with out knowing that that I might throw up afterwards.

Mom and Dad, you would be proud--all I needed to try things was Ed saying, "Its okay", then a 'really' look from me, followed by an exasperated, "Just eat it, Jen!" from Ed. So I did. I won't pretend that I tried everything, but I tried more than enough for me.

I absolutely refused to eat the octopus tentacles wrapped on the stick (like a corn dog-except without the corn or the hot dog--they must have the octopus wrap its legs around the chopsticks when it is alive, then kill it so the tentacles stay). I also did not try the fish head with 1/2 inch teeth and nostrils. I was told later by my co-teachers that it probably was a very "expensive and wonderful fish", but I'm sorry I'm not eating fish head. Thanks for the offer, but no. It had very big teeth and nostrils (I could over look the eyes and the large cheeks). The Lees seemed to understand. So they made Ed eat it (ha! sucka! you need to be a wussy, rude, foreigner girl who says "diet" a lot so they don't make you eat large fish head with teeth--and yes he made an ewww face).

When I told my co-teachers at work about it, they were proud of me for even going in. I had earlier expressed how "scared" I was to try seafood because it was "prepared differently than home" in an attempt to forewarn them that I might not be as open to eat the fish options here as a normal person (you can not say I won't try it here--they don't understand that expression and just make you try it anyways). So because of my bravery, I must now eat Bone soup (yup that's what it is, no explanation needed) and what ever dish my co-teachers throw at me. I actually think that they believe I'm funny because I have food issues. I've gotten away with not eating things so far because, "It is prepared differently at home.", "I didn't recognize it.", and "I am not sure how to eat it." But now, they are on to my scheme and show me how to eat everything. So I guess I will be enjoying a lot more Korean food. Yippee.