On my break between classes I have ten minutes to prepare for the next lesson. In the office I found this odd looking man; who had just arrived that morning from Hong Kong, using my chair and the computer next to my desk. He was studying the screen intently. I waited a moment before asking about my chair, but he noticed me and motioned to me. "Hey, look at this." He pointed to the screen. I looked. "This stuff is either crap or treasure." He said. We were both looking at an EBAY advertisement selling a 4 inch paper scrap from a 500 year old latin bible. It was 12 bucks plus 5 for shipping. "Leaf 6," He said "that's page 6." "Oh." "Well, I'm buying." He seemed satisfied. "Good. Can I have my chair back?" "Oh, of course. Are there other chairs I can use?" "There's four over there." "Can I just---Is anybody---OK I'll just.." He groped one chair and placed it in front of the computer. "You know I love noodles," He continued. "It's all I ate in Hong Kong." "Oh really?" "Yea, here they have them but I don't like the seasoning." I removed a paper from a folder and tried to look at it. "The instant noodles are poison, I mean the noodles are fine, but all the crap is in that salt seasoning." "You shouldn't eat those." I said. "Yea, I mean it tastes good, but there's so many chemicals in it. A little is okay. I want to ask them to maybe put a little in next time." "Tell them So-guem Bae Chuseyo--It means Please take out the salt," I offered. "Oh yea, thats easy. Ok." "Ok."
Four more minutes. Maybe they will be silent ones. A Soju headache was creeping in from the last night. Now thats some poison for you. I reflected on the stream of bars, pork and kimchi pizza, and the purchase of beer at a convenience store; finished in the warmth of a PC 방 at 1,000 Won per hour. Times Up.
3 comments:
i can't process what you just said
No I made some blathering comment on his blog. I think that was the response.
its a myth that MSG (all that chemical in chinese/japanese noodles) is dangerous to your health or does something to your brain. there was this huge scare sometime ago but really what it just does is make the receptors in your tongue more sensitive to the flavor of whatever it is youre eating at the moment. i love MSG i think. i love what it does to the food i eat. its like drinking good wine before eating or having a good smoke before a good meal.
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