Doug Stars in Lost in Translation

Doug came to visit me last week and took off again this past Monday evening. It had been just over 6 months since I had seen him last (with g-video chat not counting). I dragged him all around Korea, having him meet my host family in Gumi, coteachers in Daegu, my biological family in Cheongju and ETA friends in Seoul. All in the span of a week.

When he first got to Korea, we took a bus from the Incheon Airport to Gumi. We stayed at a motel down the street from my host family's apartment. We ended up at a motel that was next to not one, not two, but three business clubs. And the name of the motel was "Motel Crystal." How could we not? It was 30,000W for the night (roughly 26USD), huge, and had this bizarre orange chair. Needless to say, we took one look at the chair and decided against even touching it.

The bed also had a giant mirror (dis)tastefully placed next to the bed...

The next day after breakfast with my host family, we met up with two coteachers in Daegu, where they brought us to a temple on a mountain in the rain, and then after ate a giant traditional Korean meal. Then we returned to Gumi, only to have a giant home-cooked meal made by my host mom. She admitted to me that when I first told her about Doug she was skeptical of the relationship due to our age gap, but after meeting him in person understood the relationship and approved. It's like I have gained 2 more mothers since coming to Korea.

Then we left for Cheongju the day after to meet up with my biological family. It was a little awkward at first, b/c it was just Doug, me, my mom, and grandparents. Doug doesn't speak much Korean, my mom is super reserved, and my family definitely does not speak English. We ended up watching Sumo wrestling together while we waited for other family members to arrive for dinner. Luckily my uncle brought his wife, who had more English ability. We drank ginseng soju after dinner and the mood was more comfortable. My uncle said he liked Doug (though both he and my aunt let out a surprised "ohhhhhhhhhh" when they found out his age), and tried to tell him that he had an asian face, which neither Doug nor I quite understood. The next morning it was just us and my grandparents. My grandmother told me that she thought well of Doug and that b/c he loved me she liked him. It was very sweet. She also patted him hard on the stomach when he said he was full. And he agrees, she's one strong one-armed lady.

We stayed in the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, which was a nice change from the usual love motels and hostels I'm used to staying in. No scary chairs, no giant mirrors, and the bathroom soap was even made by L'occitane. We spent our 3 1/2 days in Seoul doing touristy things, eating tons, and of course cuddling.

Doug even humored me by taking sticker pictures with me. Though he didn't play very nice and refused to look at the camera. Ah well. I love him for who he is, that is being difficult. But I have to give him credit for cramming Korean in his head before arriving (he learned how to read hanguel), sitting on the floor for hours at a time, and even trying fish dishes (he hates fish). And the impression he left with the Koreans in my life was overall very good. Everyone agreed, he's a keeper and that he can use chopsticks well.