Imagine my surprise when my student informed me that her dad wanted to invite me to their house to have dinner with them. I was first of all, I was taken by surprise and two, I was very touched that my student wanted me to come to her house for dinner. Of course I couldn’t say no. She informed that her dad doesn’t have many foreign friends as it’s very difficult for Koreans to make friends with foreigners. He wanted to make friends with me? Hmm.
At first, I had a few reservations about his intentions but after speaking with a fellow Chungdahm teacher, about it, my anxieties were calmed. She informed me that I should be on time and suggested I take something for dessert. My student took my phone number and a few days later, I saw that her dad added me on Kakao Talk. Over the next few days, we corresponded, mostly about my diet. I’m vegetarian, so he wanted to make sure that what they were serving would be okay.
When the Saturday arrived, I was so busy that I ended up being late in meeting them. Plus, I didn’t even have time to grab a yummy dessert from E-Mart. All in all, they were very happy to see me. During the drive to their house, I learned that her dad’s English was pretty good. Apparently, he’d studied in England for some time during his college years. I also learned that he worked for Posco, a huge establishment in Korea. After a short drive to their house, I was introduced to Liana's mom. Liana and her youner sister introduced me to their five pet hamsters. I even held one. While they're in the rodent family, they were especially cute, I even held one of them.