VIPS

Joseph and I are VIPS…. Well not really but today at our teacher meeting we ate like them. VIPS is the most American restaurant on Geoje Island. It is at the top of the D-Cube mall, the epicenter of all that is western ( well as western as you can get in Korea!). Grace our director decided we needed to have a proper “teacher meeting” at this restaurant so we could get to know each other and see how much shrimp we could stuff in our faces! It was absolutely delightful, Most all of our co-workers speak Korean and English so the ones with weaker skills can work to interpret and get info from the more experienced teachers.

Let me tell you about this restaurant. It had EVERYTHING. And seriously when I say everything, I mean everything… I am talking Golden Corral caliber, but it was really nice… Back in college, we lovingly referred to Golden Corral as “The Trough”… this was no simple trough though, Joseph and I decided it was only fitting to call this place “ The Gilded Trough”.

There was Korean and American fare to spare! Everything from varying forms of Pizza, pasta, salads, meat dishes, seafood, fried chicken, fried rice, fruit, a Mexican station with real sour cream ( Not whipped!), bread station with a quiznos like oven to heat/grill your bread of choice, jams and butter, raw fish, Sushi station, Rice noodle station, Soda bar, coffee bar, and as much tiramisu as you could eat in five sittings…. I wanted to take pictures, I really did, but the lunch rush and not wanting to look like a complete dork in front of everyone at my school prevented me from pulling out the camera to capture this epic display of decadent American sized food preparations. Everything was on nice plates too, like it was prepared for a King… Presentation really is half the battle, the other half being taste… which was delicious. So delicious in fact that I will even forgive them for putting corn in the taco meat… ( they must really love Corn here!)

We sat in our own private room, and brought in tons of plates of everything to share, as well as getting up multiple times to fill our own cups and plates. The poor waitresses did nothing but take away empty plates in a vain attempt to give us some table space.

We sat, munched, laughed, joked about students, and odd happenings in Korea from Joseph and I’s point of view, which in the Korean perspective is totally normal. ( example… Ali: Ummm the shrimp on my plate has a face…. Grace: They did in the ocean too! You can just cut it off) Honestly though, I had never seen shrimp that was not fried or already trimmed of the head and legs… I had no idea they had such big black eyes! They are pretty tasty even with a face though!

The Koreans also ate some kind of sea creature that resembled a snail, I asked Sen, a fellow teacher, who was sitting next to me what it was, but she didn’t know the English name, but she did manage to get me to try a bite… it was like a scallop but more salty and much more chewy… I probably would not order a plate of them, but I didn’t gag so that was a victory in itself ( Joseph didn’t try it!)

We met at 11:30 and didn’t leave till 1:30… and we ate the whole time… it was fabulous… the Koreans can really put away some food… Maybe it was because the place
was rumored to be expensive so they wanted to get their money’s worth… but Joseph and I were happy to simply take advantage of the Mexican station! Thankfully Grace paid for this extravaganza, another example of Korean Kindness and we all walked back to school.

Walking back to the school with a full tummy and a morning full of conversation and good times, I looked on at the crowd of Koreans walking and talking their way across the Big crosswalk and felt totally at ease. Sen, a new teacher like Joseph and I, who is so sweet, Sera, who works part time but is very knowledgeable, Grace our director who is full of life and very animated with her English, Jenny who is quiet, but very smart and graceful, Krystal, who is the receptionist and doesn’t speak much English but always has a smile and a sucker for Joseph and I in the afternoons, and the only Korean man, Daniel, our Manager who has helps us with the thermostat, washer and pretty much anything else we needed out of his own spare time and the goodness of his heart.

This is a group of people I can’t imagine not knowing. They are all so kind and in only a few short weeks have enabled Joseph and I to do so much more with their help, reassurance and occasional Korean Hangul lesson.
As Joseph and I linked arms walking back, still seeing new sights as we walk the short two blocks back to the school, I am finally starting to have a sense of home even though I am so far away. Don’t get me wrong, I miss my real family tons, and my friends, and Joseph’s family, and my car and my bed… and the list goes on and on and on, but in the time being I know I must enjoy the Korea that is now my home for the next year ( almost only 11 months). I already know that I will miss this too when I return home.