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The first time I visited South Korea was in November, 2011. I stayed in an apartment being used, by a Korean family I knew, as a school. The city was Goyang, just outside of Seoul as most Korean cities seem to be. You’ll know it by the manhole covers there that say, “Let’s Goyang!” Even Koreans appreciate lame second-language wordplay.
At the time, I couldn’t read or speak Korean, leading to some minor difficulties. Nearly all Korean students study English, but it’s surprising how few can actually speak it. That’s not on them - I’m not crazy about studying their language either.
Another issue I had was how the ubiquitous, tall and densely packed apartment buildings looked EXACTLY the same. It was easy to get lost, and during my ten days there, I got off the bus at the wrong stop more than once and did some wandering and rambling worthy of any old folksinger.
I got sick about midway through the visit, and while my hosts ate inside a warm restaurant in Paju, near the DMZ, I stretched out on a picnic table outside catching a cold breeze, and occasional glances of a young ROK soldier patrolling in front of a barbed-wire fence. (In Oklahoma, we might call it “bob wire.”)
I felt better in a day or so, and my host said she was planning a Thanksgiving farewell dinner for me. (US Thanksgiving was a couple of days away.)
Her family had invited some of their friends I had met during the short stay. I am fairly shy by nature and nurture, and I have a weird thing about eating in front of strangers, so while I appreciated the great kindness, I didn’t really look forward to the dinner. And, over a week of meals cooked in either sesame or perilla oil had put me off Korean food, which I wasn’t crazy about to begin with.
There was quite a spread. I was ready to be a good guest and show gratitude. My host pointed to a bowl of avocados. “I remember in Oklahoma you said you loved avocados, so I bought these just for you,” she said. Avocados are quite expensive in Korea, and not widely eaten. Most avocados you see in stores are frozen in chunks, for smoothies.
What I’m finally getting around to telling you is that I ate five rock-hard avocados that day.
Discussion (6)
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That is so much better than Slovenes putting "sLOVEnija" on their postage stamps.
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I concur. My hometown in Oklahoma has a slogan, "You CAN in Yukon."
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I presume avocados are not supposed to be rock-hard when you eat them. I don't normally eat them so am not sure, but it doesn't sound right. I am not violently opposed to avocados, but it's not a food that I ever choose for myself.
A young cousin of mine (she's a grandma, but enough younger than me that I never got to know her when we were young) raised avocados until a few years ago. Her property in a San Diego suburb backed up on a hillside that had been acquired by the city or state for purposes of building a major highway that never came about. So she and her husband planted avocado trees there, and for quite a few years she sold a half-dozen varieties of them in local markets. A few years ago we finally got together on one of our visits to San Diego and they invited us over to their house. After giving us a tour of the property and orchard they served a meal that was of course going to include avocados. I forget what the question was, but I had to confess my ignorance due to hardly ever eating avocados. I certainly couldn't distinguish among the varieties they had on the table. I ate what was served (and it was fine) but her husband suggested that in social situations I could always say, "The only avocados I eat are the ones from my cousin's avocado ranch." That way I could maintain some avocado cred without actually eating any. He came up with that line so quickly that maybe he had had occasion to use it before.
And now, after many years of letting the land remain idle, the County of San Diego has decided it does want to use it, after all. When we visited last year at the time of my aunt's funeral, the avocado orchard was gone, but the property they own is still large enough that there are a few avocado trees and citrus fruit trees to keep them busy.
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That's a lot of avocados to eat in one day, even if they are ripe.
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It wasn't a good night. Had they been ripe, I would've sailed through.
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