A Honeymoon in Asia - Seoul - Day 3

I'm sure this fish was really good but I could barely eat it.  I had a hard time getting up that morning and felt bad.  I rapidly started feeling sick.  Cold chills, fever, sweating, gurgly stomach, headache.  I didn't know what was wrong with me but slowly theorized that I had food poisoning.  Everyone else was fine though.  We traveled by car for a lot of the day making me car sick on top of it all.  Because of this gastrointestinal problem I couldn't eat either, which was bad because I was with my in-laws and the theme of the trip and of Korean culture is to eat a lot.  The first thing that was handed to me when I woke up was the worst for a food poisoned stomach, an ultra salta flavor punch fish egg sack.  I tried my best to talk to the fam but towards the end all I could do was sit there waiting to die.  It was a pretty bad day.

her parents have beautiful Korean furniture.  Check out all that mother of pearl in-lay.

Her mom has this horse riding electronic exercise machine, made by National (a Japanese company).  Yes, it's for real, and no it's not as weird as you think because people on instagram were saying they want one.

I slept at the hotel for an hour and then we had another big dinner to go to, this time with Jen's Mom's side of the family.  They chose a Korean BBQ place just for me and when we arrived there was already a mountain of grilled meats and a huge spread of food awaiting me.  They must have thought, what an @$$hole, why isn't he eating anything, this dinner is for him and Jen.  I was feeling very bad and could only eat a few bites.  It's like a comedy movie, son-in-law from America meets wife's Korean family for the first time, can't speak Korean, can barely speak at all, looks sweaty, doesn't eat or drink anything (in a culture where doing a lot of both is important), and sits there looking meek and pathetic.  It also makes it better because Jen can't speak Korean either so there was no helping out or explaining from her end.  I heard her mom tell a few of the family members that I wasn't feeling well but I don't think that really did the job, so I sat there looking like a human tube blob.  Her family on both sides were very nice, gave us gifts, and did their best with what little they had to work with as far as Jason Raish went.  After the dinner we had to go meet Jungeun from Yonsei University days and Nana, my roommate in Beijing who is married to a Korean guy now.  We had planned to meet weeks ago so I sucked up all my strength and made it work.  We went to Local Bubble, a gastro pub with a lot of craft beer.  Craft beer is making its way into Korea and is expensive (see Kyungwon and Kyle's venture).

We stayed at the Sommerset Palace Hotel which is next to the Japanese embassy in Seoul.  An famously there is this statue of a girl representing a "Comfort Woman" from WWII.  Estimates are that some 200,000 Women were forced into sex slavery during wartime by the Japanese.  The Japanese government was not happy with this statue and it caused a diplomatic row and lots of Korean peeps camped out and protested around the statue.  Eventually a resolution was made but with lots of Koreans not happy with it because the Japanese history books don't state the facts.  An identical statue was put up in front of the Japanese embassy in Busan in the south and it re-opened the diplomatic row.

There are still people camping out, their aim is to protect the statue.

we had Haejangguk, Hangover stew, before heading to the airport.  It was full of tripe and blood and other intestinal goodies so that part of it wasn't our fav.  My stomach was also operating at about 30% by that point as well.  Your stomach better get better real fast Jason because you've planned a 10 person yakkitori dinner back in Tokyo that night!

So the 4 people reading this blog know that I'm adopted, from Korea.  This is the first time i've had a Korean family in Korea.  It makes me feel all kinds of ways.  Thanks to the Suhs and the Yoos for everything.  And thanks to Jen's parents for paying for everything, getting our hotels, driving, organizing, and hanging out with us for a week.  I had a different kind of experience in Korea this time, a family experience, kind of like I never got to have.  Feelings in all kinds of ways.