T minus 23 hours
With just about 23 hours till I head out the door for the 19 hour journey to Seoul, S. Korea, I'm my typical pre-trip self: Tense and irritable and wound up tighter than a brand-spankin' new chess clock. As usual I'm dreading just about everything that comes to mind: the 14 hours on a plane from Chicago to Seoul, meeting new people, feeling strange and out of place, looking like a tourist, adjusting to a time zone 13 hours ahead of where I live, staying in a hotel, adjusting back to my time zone after another 14 hours squeezed into a plane seat... etc, etc.
Don't get me wrong: I expect to be glad I'm on the trip and even happier afterward that I did it, but in the days leading up to travel I almost always want to cancel if I could do so with any dignity (junior high teachers need to hang on like no tomorrow to whatever shreds we still have).
One glimmer of happy expectation: I'll probably get to taste some new and enjoyable foods (and learn how to pronounce Korean dishes). If this recent New York Times article is anywhere close to the mark, I'm in for some gourmand pleasures. Money quote:
It was a bowl of homemade buckwheat noodles — naeng myun — that she made in their home in Pyongyang, now North Korea. The noodles nested in cold, mild beef broth topped with slices of tender beef brisket, sweet Asian pear, lightly pickled white radish, cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg. Eating it was as close to an epiphany as a little boy can get.
Hopefully no generic food courts on this trip!
Shout out to JAM for sending me the article's link.
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Don't get me wrong: I expect to be glad I'm on the trip and even happier afterward that I did it, but in the days leading up to travel I almost always want to cancel if I could do so with any dignity (junior high teachers need to hang on like no tomorrow to whatever shreds we still have).
One glimmer of happy expectation: I'll probably get to taste some new and enjoyable foods (and learn how to pronounce Korean dishes). If this recent New York Times article is anywhere close to the mark, I'm in for some gourmand pleasures. Money quote:
It was a bowl of homemade buckwheat noodles — naeng myun — that she made in their home in Pyongyang, now North Korea. The noodles nested in cold, mild beef broth topped with slices of tender beef brisket, sweet Asian pear, lightly pickled white radish, cucumber and half a hard-boiled egg. Eating it was as close to an epiphany as a little boy can get.
Hopefully no generic food courts on this trip!
Shout out to JAM for sending me the article's link.
Next post
posted by Cowells at 7:17 AM
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