Just Had Lunch With 6 Korean People

And only two people spoke English. Lord, it was so awkward.

The way KPOP did not help me at all. Only thing I understood was tteokbokki, and when somebody randomly asked me about "Monster" sunglasses. I was like...."Gentle Monster?" And only reason I knew that was cause of Jennie. I think he was trying to buy a pair for his daughter and had no idea what it was lmao. Sir, I don't know either. Only reason I know the name is because I'm a closet KPOP fan.

Quote from Golden_Wishes

How did this even come about

I work for the Studio Arts and Art History department at a nice sized university in LA. My boss is a transplant from SK. I don't know how she knew these people or where this came from, but randomly yesterday, she told me some Korean professors would be visiting campus and she wanted me to help install their exhibit in our student gallery. Said I'd get a $100. I was like, sure! I would have done it for free lol.

But anyway, we get to installing everything, and I felt bad because the Korean professors did most of the work since the Studio Manager and another guy helping bailed halfway through because they had premade plans to have lunch with the Dean. Mind you, I have never installed an art exhibit before, so I didn't know what the hell I was doing. I got relegated to holding the plank to make sure everything was even, lol. The extent of my work for a $100 that eventually got bumped to $200. So, once we were done putting everything up, my boss "invited" me to lunch, which being the introvert I am, I tried to wiggle myself out of it. She basically was telling me rather than "inviting" me lol. When she asked me to come, I said, "Well, everyone is going to be speaking in Korean?" as they had been the whole afternoon. And she said, "Well you just need to make an effort to talk to them." Knowing that only her and the one woman in the group were the only ones who knew English lmao.

So, yeah, that's how I ended up at lunch with 6 Graphic Design professors from SK. It was very much awkward, but not all too bad. They even mentioned Squid Games to engage me lol. Though I haven't seen it. The one other woman other than me and my boss told me to call her Sarah since her name "Haeyoon I think?" was difficult to pronounce, and I was thinking to myself...lady, you have no idea who I am? Still called her Sarah though. Also, turns out she knew my boss's Korean ex-husband since she works in the same department as him in SK LMFAO.

Quote from alexS

Did you at least have Korean food?

I do hope it was a good restaurant doe

Man, I wish.

It was Thai. First time ever having Thai food, and I played it safe (as I always do) and got the fried rice. At this point, I have had Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Thai fried rice lol. Making my way through the fried rice of the Asian continent, and have to say so far, the Thai version is my least favorite. It was too sweet. The fried calamari was good though.

Quote from alexS

Pffff, if its Thai go for the prawn curry. It's actually really good mate

That actually sounds tasty. The prawn/shrimp looked massive in the other dishes.

Quote from comedy

i hope the food was good. last time i ate korean, my mouth got destroyed. i don't know why everything has to be nuclear level spicy

It was Thai, and it was okay lol. I did try some of their pickled chilis/jalapenos(?). Those were a decent spice without destroying me.

Quote from comedy

oh i thought you guys ate tteokbokki. i've only tried thai a couple of times but it was pretty good

One of the professors tried a Thai noodle dish. He started speaking Korean, and I thought I heard him say tteokbokki. I brought up to my boss at the moment, and they explained he said that the dish tasted like tteokbokki to him lol.