Impromptu Teacher's Dinner? Okay!

At about 4:55 this afternoon, just as I was starting to think about the yummy duk boki that was waiting for me at E-Mart, a gaggle of Korean women carrying plastic bags filled with food began streaming through the door to the teachers' office.  I thought maybe many of the teachers had ordered in since they looked to be working well into the night as usual.  I went about my business, putting my computer away, emptying and rinsing my tea tumbler, and packing up my desk for the night.  As I got up to put my coat on, one of the head teachers looked at me funny and said, "Noelle, you stay for dinner!"  Since it's terribly rude to refuse things that are offered to you, and the food looked really interesting, who was I to turn down a perfectly good dinner offer?!  I came over to the table and began helping them unwrap the several plastic platters filled with different types of meat, several side dishes, cups of dipping sauces and plates of lettuce wraps.  Just as I finished unwrapping the last side dish, another head teacher came in and said, "Noelle.  Change (pronounced: changEE).  Come with me."  He led me to the conference room where I usually hold class with the principal.  There, I began unwrapping the same dishes and spreading newspaper all over the table to minimize the cleanup.  (I am continually blown away by Korean efficiency, for real.  So many things that they do just make complete and total sense to me.)

Here's what the spread included:
Two kinds of kimchi (one of them was literally the best kimchi I have ever had -- sweet, but spicy and so fresh.  YUM!)
A cold noodle and cabbage salad with various greens whose name escapes me
Raw oysters laying on a bed of green onion tips and romaine lettuce wraps (oysters = slime, but the flavor was tolerable, though I prefer them in the Meyer family Christmas Eve oyster stew, where it is expected that they will be wet.)
Green onion and seafood pancake (I have tried to replicate this dish at home, and I've come close, but, in the words of my 7th grade History teacher, Mr. Kedley, no cigar, )
Three kinds of dipping sauce - all red and all spicy, though of varying degrees and thicknesses, accompanied by a cup of fresh garlic cloves and hot green peppers
Two kinds of lettuce for wrapping the meat
Korean miso soup - made with bean paste - the flavor is growing on me, slowly.
Samgyeopsal - pork belly, which is similar to bacon, but is not cured like the bacon you all think of.  Instead of being fried, this was boiled, so the teachers all insisted it was healthy, despite the thick layer of fat overtaking every single slice of meat.
Pig feet meat - literally.  On the plate was a pig's leg.  Like, when they butchered the pig, they just hacked off it's entire leg and sold it to the restaurant for this dish.  The leg, hoof (is that what a pig's foot is called?) and all, had been boiled with ginger, garlic and other herbs and slapped onto this plate.  There was also a thick layer of fat over the length of the leg that looked like the brown icing on a Casey's donut.  I was told it was collagen, so eating it would be healthy for my face.  I am not exaggerating when I tell you that they use every single part of whatever it is they are eating, whether it's an animal or a vegetable.  Also, everything, and I mean everything, has a specific health purpose.  Oh Korea.

That's a butt-ton of food, right?  There were at least four different spreads, with two of each side dish, soup and lettuce wrap stashed around the school wherever there was room for six to eight people to gather around a table.  My school doesn't mess around when it comes to food. 

I was told to sit next to the principal and during the whole dinner, lively passionate stories were exchanged (90% of which were in Korean) but I could tell they were all having a great time, as was I.  After the meal was over and everything was cleaned up, we retired to the teachers' office.  I began putting on my coat and getting ready to leave.  Before I left, I wanted to thank someone for including me in the dinner, but I didn't know who, so I thanked the teachers with whom I ate.  One of them side-hugged me and thanked me for staying, and always being cheerful, etc.  Then, she told me that she loves me and I am like a daughter to her.  She then proceeded to tell me that she has a 23 year old son who just applied to the PhD program in Pharmacy at Seoul National University.  Uh, set us up, please!