Surprise Soju!

One night I was just hanging out and playing with the kids after dinner. My host mother mentioned that I should go take a shower. I didn't really feel like it at the time, decided to myself that I would shower before bed and I continued to play. A litte while later, I was told to shower again. At this point I was wondering if I smelled and by the third request for me to take a shower, I gave in. I took a shower and dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt.

I had just gotten out of the shower when I saw my host dad arrive home (I didn't know he had left) with a bunch of grocery bags in his hands. He put them on the counter, looked at me and said, "people will arrive in five minutes and we will drink alcohol togther." I was so surprised that I went straight to my room and changed my clothes. The people had arrived by the time I returned to the kitchen. Soju and beer was poured for all of us and the toasts began. My surprise attack to drink was complemented with an abundance of fresh fruit and fried chicken. Korean people like to eat lots of food with their alcohol.

We chatted for a while with basic Korean and basic English words so that everyone could understand. Every once in a while the group would get bored with speaking slowly and jump into Korean conversations that I could not follow. However, I did know when they were talking about me because they did not try to hide it and would use my name over and over. Sometimes I could gather the topic of the conversation, but other times I just hoped that they were saying nice things. We covered the usual Korean topics: Do you have a boyfriend? An outraged, Why
not?! What can you say in Korean? And why don't Americans like to eat octopus?

At one point, while sipping on some 43% alcohol from China, I was left out of the conversation and realized that they were no longer talking about me. I was putting all of my energy into trying to not make faces when I was sipping my drink that I stopped paying attention to the conversation. Then, I heard Discovery Channel and Bear. When I inquired about their conversation I learned that they were talking about Man Vs. Wild the television show. During my six week stay at home I got really into this show (Thanks James) and I was surprised to hear that it was also popular in Korea.

Overall my suprise attack to drink on a Thursday night was pretty successful. 

Lesson learned: Take a shower the first time you are told.