AK and Korean Barbecue

I spent my final evening in Busan eating at a nearby Korean BBQ restaurant. As I said in my last post, I was only able to go due to the generosity of one of the hostel workers, who volunteered to come with. AK is the hostel worker, she instantly struck me as outgoing and kind when I first arrived at Terra. She smiles and speaks with most everyone who passes through. Potung, the hostel cat, has a specific affection for her (something even more telling when we consider that he is a very apathetic and arrogant cat).

One of Potung's favorite positions. The superman sprawl.

We left around 7 and passed the time talking about how she ended up in Busan. AK is from Taiwan, has two siblings, and attended University with a major in tourism. When asked why she chose tourism, she laughed and said, a bit more timidly, that it was a very easy major.

I should also say that our entire evening was an exchange in English, something I’m grateful for. At one point in the evening I attempted to define “patriarchy” to AK, who was not familiar.

When we sat down, she showed me how it worked, cooking and cutting the meat, explaining the different sauces. I tend to be embarrassed about taking food pictures, but she encouraged me right away. 

I was very grateful for such a relaxing dinner. The earlier part of the day was committed to pursuing summer opportunities, which was largely unsuccessful and made for a high-stress afternoon. The delicious meal combined with AK's sunny presence restored my spirit.

We cooked garlic to the side of the hot plate. Pork fat is used to fry the meat, which we then mix with a variety of veggies and kimchi.

I will also add that while the meal itself was a dream, the next four hours were not. It felt like a porcupine was crawling around my stomach. I realized I hadn't eaten so much meat and fat in a long time, causing a less-than glamorous response from my body.