Old Subway Lady
November 02, 2005

My new friend Jeong Woo called out of the blue and said "I'm bored."  And that was that.  He came over and we ventured out to grab some chow and to see what we could find in the night.  As we walked through my neighborhood, I asked him about the restaurant signs.  One of these days I need to learn how to read these damn things.

We walked up to one restaurant where the sign read "beef soup."  It didn't sound so appealing, but not many things here do.  Some things look not so hot either, but the tastes of most foods here are delightful.  We went inside and sat on the floor at miniature tables.  He ordered for us.  What we got was just what the sign offered.  Beef soup!  It was strips of beef in a broth with scallions.  It was somewhat bland, but once you added some pepper & rock salt, it was quite tasty.  Of course there were the normal side dishes that seem to come with every Korean type meal.  Kim chi, peppers with a bean paste, roasted garlic, pickled radishes, etc.

We then headed to downtown Daegu via the subway.  As we entered the elevator an old Korean lady entered with us.  She immediately started to talk to me and Jeong Woo like we were old pals.  She pointed at me and said that I was very "healthy."  I think she thinks a big belly is healthy.  Finally!  A country that understands me!

In the subway here, the elderly can get tokens to ride the train for free.  She grabbed three from the machine and gave us each one.  We are such subway criminals!  We three criminals got on our train and headed downtown.  She exited before us but not before talking up a storm to Jeong Woo and not letting him speak much.  All I could gather was that she thought I was nice and she would periodically say "Daegu number one!"

Jeong Woo and I walked around downtown for a bit and then settled into a bar called "Jazz on Jazz."  I thought that this should be interesting.  We walked in and the place was all in brown wood with an American Western theme and they were playing American hip hop music.  Why the hell is this place called "Jazz on Jazz" again?

We ordered beer and peach Soju.  The thing that's different about Koreans when they drink is they eat too.  Jeong Woo asked what side dishes I wanted and I said we just ate, I'm not hungry.  But apparently that's what you do.  You order little plates of food to go with your drinks.  He ordered for us of course.  We got small portions of peaches, peanuts, anchovies (they come with everything here), and cole slaw covered in corn flakes.  Don't ask about the cole slaw corn flakes.  I have no idea what they were going for with that one.  Maybe that's where the "Jazz on Jazz" comes from.

What I learned today about Korea:  1)  Daegu is number one!  2) Cole slaw covered with corn flakes goes with beer.