Never Prepped for Class like that Before...

Thursday dawned bright and cold (11*F/-11C). I was scheduled to teach at 10am, and another former student had spent the night in my apartment so she could attend the class. Hai-Kyung picked us up at 8:00 for a "humble breakfast" at a small locals place. She explained that she was ordering us a traditional hangover breakfast--although we didn't have hangovers! In Seoul, it's a beansprout soup served with a raw egg and other mix-in's, including seaweed, kimchi, red pepper paste, and briny shrimp. It's served at a nuclear temperature and is accompanied with moju. "What's that?" "Oh, it's a fermented rice wine, but it's heated so most of the alcohol is gone." OMG! I took a small sip to get relief from the soup. My moju was definitely not heated, and I felt its warmth spread through my body. The other student looked at me and giggled, and I hoped we would be closer to relaxed than goofy by the time I needed to teach! When in Rome... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haejangguk