Compulsory Fun and Nuances of Language

Good morning! It's eight in the morning on my very first Saturday in Seoul. I bet you're thinking, "that's great! You can finally go investigate the city you'll be living in for the next year. See the sights, maybe even contribute to the greater bad by getting something to drink at a Starbucks[1]." Wrong! Today is compulsory fun day for the staff. At ten I have to be at work to catch a bus to an undisclosed location for a picnic with the whole staff.

I'm not actually that bitter about it but I am slightly annoyed that I had to set an alarm on my first weekend and that, instead of checking out one of a million amazing things in the city of my own choosing, I'm essentially going to work. I'm sure it will be fun but the idea of compulsory fun is a bit odd. It sounds like something one of my kids would write. Sometimes they amaze me with the words they know. One challenge of teaching them is trying to explain the nuances of English and why, in most cases, you wouldn't actually describe anything compulsory as "fun", even if technically you could put those words together.

Lest you think all I'm going to do is snark about the food here I should point out that last night I had the most delectable kimchi dumplings for dinner. They make dinner for us at work(!) and it's almost always traditional Korean fare (thusly, meat-tastic) or an Asian interpretation of Western food[2] (thusly, meat-tastic). Anyways, I like kimchi and these dumplings were easily the best native food I have consumed here, I snuck back for more at the end of the night. But, I still had time to buy some more thrilling treats to share with you so keep an eye out for the day that I'm brave enough to drink what looks like pine soda.

[1]When I lived in Japan one of my coping strategies was to drag my kiwi friend to the Starbucks in Nihombashi. I just desperately needed something familiar and American so we would go have non-azuki-flavored treats and study.
[2] I say "Asian" because what is described as "spaghetti" or "curry" here is almost identical to the versions I ate in Japan. The curry seems to have all the elements of an Indian curry and yet tastes totally different from almost any that I have had. It's like curry from a parallel dimension. Barring the meat it's good. In the interest of being the river and not the rock about eating here I have just tried to work around the meat in some of the dishes. A helpful trick is to just use chopsticks and leave the impression that I'm too stupid to get a spoon to finish the sauce/pick up the meat (I don't want to insult anyone by obviously avoiding their cooking).