But I have great news, folks. Korean food is awesome.

MB took me to shabu shabu for my first dinner here. It took a bit of navigating to ensure I could eat it, but we finally had success — thanks in large part to my boss, Kyungro. He wrote me a note to hand to servers explaining that I can’t have gluten (read: soy sauce), and even had us call him from the restaurant so he could talk with our server and make sure it was all safe to eat.

Believe me, it was worth the effort. Behold, shabu shabu:

(I’m still struggling to learn photoshop — and wordpress, so pardon the tough-to-read captions. It was that, or a huge stretched out photo.)

Shabu shabu is originally a Japanese dish, but the Koreans have adopted and altered it. The table has a burner in the middle, and a big pot of broth, chock full of delicious veggies, is put on top.  You add the sheets of beef and let them cook in the broth, and pick out a few bites at a time, put them in a dish to cool, then dip in sauce and eat. The standard sauce is a wasabi/soy sauce mixture, so they made me a special raw egg/hot sauce dipping sauce. At first I thought, no way.  But then I remembered my promise to myself to at least try everything if it’s gluten free — and the sauce was surprisingly tasty.

Here’s a handsome guy I know enjoying his first shabu shabu in almost a year:

A few nights later, Michael took me to Gangnam, a busy neighborhood not far from our apartment.  Here’s my “look, I’m in Korea” picture:

We stick out a bit, what with being quite tall and very white and all, but I don’t really mind. When I’m in Europe, I feel compelled to try to “pass” for European, which I don’t quite pull off. Here, there’s no chance I’ll ever be mistaken for Korean, so there’s no sense in trying. That said, I do avoid the “American Tourist” fanny pack/Mickey Mouse combo. For obvious reasons.

But back to the food. For dinner we had sam gyup sal and galbi:

As with the shabu shabu, the food is cooked in the middle of the table, with a small grill over hot coals.  (The servers walk through the restaurant with the burning coals, and place them in the recess in the table. That goes on the list of jobs that a klutz like me should never have.)  Almost every Korean meal comes with lots of side dishes, like kimchi, seaweed, pickled veggies.  With sam gyup sal and galbi, you grill the meats (pork and beef, respectively, I think), then place the meat and your choice of toppings from the side dishes in a lettuce leaf, wrap it up, and chow down.

The food is fresh, pure, and healthy, not to mention absolutely delicious. I don’t know the last time I was so glad to be wrong.

After nearly 30 hours of travel, door to door, I made it to our apartment in Gangnam. Now that we’re settled and things are put away, I’ll take and post pictures soon. It’s a studio, so it’s a good thing MB and I like each other. We have tons of closet space, including one closet just for shoes. Girls, I know you appreciate that. The kitchen is teeny — two little burners, no oven, small fridge — but it’s adequate. The bathroom is nice, though the shower isn’t exactly built for tall people. The shower head comes about to my chin, so you can imagine how fun it is for my 6’4″ fella to hose off.

So far, the most striking thing is probably how familiar everything seems. It doesn’t hurt that there are Starbucks, 7-11s, Papa John’s, and Burger Kings all over the place. Not that I can actually order anything there. It’s a curious thing to be a 25 year old voracious reader and discover that you have to…learn how to read. I know about 4 letters, so I have a way’s to go.

It’s also amazing how kind everyone is. My boss typed up a paper for me to present at restaurants explaining that I can’t have gluten (read: the ubiquitous soy sauce), and the wait staff have been very attentive and accommodating. He even had us call him from the restaurant my first night here so he could explain to the waitress and make sure I was ok. The meal was delicious, but more about that later.

There’s much more to say, of course, but I’ll save that for later.