Year 1 - Grand Buffet and Chicken Feet

Howdy

Not much new to report. Life here continues to be interesting, although that isn't always good. ;)

Lately I have been doing some extra work for one of the TOEIC teachers, Mr. Kim. TOEIC is basically a course that prepares you for the TOEIC exam, which mainly uses business English. It provides you with certification of your ability in English. Some universities require you to have at least one TOEIC score top graduate. Some require 3 or more. When you apply for a job you can submit your best score. The course requires a lot of listening in class to tapes of people speaking in English. Usually they have a booklet with the dialouge in it, and can follow along.

Mr. Kim needed quite a bit of taping done. He asked me if I would do it, and I said yes. Some of the other teachers had done taping for him so I figured what the hey. After doing one tape he wanted me to do the tapings for him exclusively, and he said he would pay me for it. Cool. :) So, I get to do something different, that can break up the routine of a day, and be paid for it. Plus it was kind of fun.

Yesterday he treated me, Hilda, and Matt to supper at Grand Buffet. I have NEVER seen a buffet place like this in my life. It makes any I have seen in Halifax, Toronto, and anywhere else look tiny. There were too many selections to list them all here. It took in traditional Korean food, as well as some dishes from other countries. The sushi was fantastic. Even Matt, a vegetarian, couldn't get over the selections. I don't think he had the same thing twice on his plate. After that supper I don't need to eat again for a few days. ;)

The place itself was as interesting as the food. The building it is in is around 6 stories high. Everything in the building is geared towards weddings, or special occaissons, but mainly weddings. The shops, the restaurants, everything. While we were there eating about 6 people celebrated birthdays. Lots of people there, but the place was so large it was easy to move around.

Hmmm, since i am talking about food I suppose I should mention what I had to eat friday night. After work we got together at our Soju Bar for dinner, Garanmari, rice, side dishes. We were joined by 2 Korean TOEIC teachers, and 2 of the receptionists. They ate some garanmari, but were still hungry. So, they ordered a delicay, chickens feet.

The chickens feet are de-boned before being cooked. they are served with veggies, and in a hot sauce. A VERY hot sauce. They ended up having noodles added to absorb some of the sauce. I decided to try them, and ... I liked it. :) The sauce was very spicy, and the feet were kind of chewy and crunchy at the same time. I am not sure if it was the cartiledge in the feet that made it crunchy, or maybe the tendons. I will have to ask my physio therapists back in Dartmouth. Regardless of the crunch, or the thought of it being chicken feet, I enjoyed a few feet. ;)

I suppose I could talk about the Olympics. While I haven't actually watched any of them, I have followed them somewhat over the internet. Thursday night my class was hijacked by discussion about the Olympics, and a LOT of anti-American feeling after what happened to the Korean short track skater who would have had the gold. Should have had it depending on who you talk to. There has always been controversy at the Olympics, but it really seems to me like the officiating has NEVER been as bad as it these Olympics. Whether it is the corrupt judging in Figure Skating (which has been a problem for years), some good calls that look bad, or the many bad calls that make officials look biased, it all looks bad for the Olympics. Does anyone REALLY expect them to "clean" up the judging or refereeing? Hell, the new head of the IOC, Rogge, was one of the people who took bribes to get the games in Salt Lake City. The Olympics hasn't really been about the sports for a long time. It is about the money.

Take care

Flint

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It is kind of funny reading this email and looking at the Olympics that just happened. 8 years has passed yet the Koreans are still reacting badly to pretty much the same thing. And bad calls are still happening.