Hojo Round Deux

Well i've been busy gallavanting off in Seoul and my father made me realize this morning that I haven't posted about Hojo round deux! haha oh dear...

Well it all started when I arrived at our designated meeting place: Mcdonalds (or Macdonuhlduhs in Korean). A side note concerning McDonalds, all the foreigners i've ever met seem to have an uncanny radar ability to locate McDonalds, no matter where you are we always seem to find it, and it tends to be the only place that we can locate in a new area for any length of time. This just happens to be the case with this new area of Masan that i'm visiting: Daccurri. So it only stands to foreigner logic that this would be the place I would choose to meet up with Hojo. When we met up he gave me this awkward hug thing that involved both his arms going around the right side of me and me trying desperately to figure out what he was doing, the occasional awdward snuffle from him or me (I couldn't tell) and then us stepping back and me tripping and falling off two stairs. *sigh* why?

Anyways, we decided that we should go and eat something, he asked me what I wanted and, like I always do with my new Koreans, I told him that I wanted to try his FAVORITE korean dish! Boy, I didn't even realize what i'd gotten myself into. He smiled and cocked his head "Jinja?" (really?) I said "Nay! Jinja!" (yes! really!). So off we went, we walked about three blocks and then stopped off in this itty bitty little restaurant underneath a bridge. Maybe the bridge was bad luck?? Who knows, but we sat down, he pulled a menu toward us, but I placed my hand on the menu and said, "Order whatever your two favorites are and let's share them!" (this was serious mistake number 4 i've made in the Hojo saga) well he ordered something and I didn't catch what it was so I asked him what he ordered. He looked a little perplexed and said that he wasn't sure he could explain it. So he pulled out his dictionary and began looking up words. I sat there in silence, gazing about the restaurant. I noticed a picture above the counter, it was chickens feet, I thought to myself, "God I hope he didn't order chickens feet." At that moment the waitress came out carrying a steaming plate of red sauce covered...something. Just as she set it down Hojo looked up at me with beaming eyes, pleased as punch to have translated what we were eating, I looked down at the plate and he said: "Chicken feet and cow intestine!".

I nearly barfed.

My eyes literally popped out of my head and rolled about on the floor. I picked them up, dusted them off, pushed them back in, picked up my chopsticks and begun to eat. Now, since i've gone abroad i've eaten a myriad of obnoxious things from caterpillar coccoons to slurping steaming snails out of their snails (the coccoons tasted like dirt and the snails tasted like boogers) but never did I think that I would actually eat chicken feet and cow intestine. The chicken feet were...interesting to say the least, they are essentially skin and cartillage, so it's like chewing on skin, rubbery and elastic and then *crunch* you bite into some cartillage. Gag! The cow intestine is black and circular, like a tube and just as rubbery as eating hose, not to mention the entire dish was the spiciest meal i've eaten in Korea. I did my best but I only managed to scarf down about a 1/3 of the dish. Hojo was just happily eating away and smiling at me from across the table.

After dinner we had coffee, played scrabble (which took FOREVER) and then I went away home. I am supposed to meet up with Hojo again tomorrow so hopefully I can continue to avoid the pitfalls of previous adventures like kissing, and intestine. Here's hoping!

Anyeong!