Day: January 10, 2013

My coworker Grace ended her work at KarmaPlus on December 31st. I've known Grace longer than anyone in Korea (she's mentioned in [broken link! FIXME] my blog entry from my 6th day in Korea in 2007). We worked together at Tomorrow School, and then LinguaForum, where we worked for Curt. When I left LinguaForum to work at LBridge (because LBridged acquired my contract from LinguaForum – it wasn't a choice), Grace quit and went with Curt to start Karma. And it was perhaps "karma" that led to her and I being reunited later as I was hired by Curt to work at Karma (which became KarmaPlus by acquiring WoongjinPlus, which was the corporate dregs of LBridge, ironically).

Grace is the best ESL teacher I've ever met. She can be amazingly grumpy in staff-room interaction, and she's a little bit strict with the kids, sometimes, compared to my style. But she is very professional in the classroom and she has great talent for teaching "immersion" style to even low-level students. I will be sorry to see her go.

We had a goodbye lunch (hoesik) for her and another departing coworker at VIPS, a Korean chain of allegedly Western-style "steak and salad" restaurants. I say "allegedly" Western, since the buffet-style "salad" bar is exactly like the food at a Korean wedding reception (or "dol" reception or any number of other events). It's just as mish-mash of self-serve things: salads, soups, bibimbap, noodles, pizza, pasta, hoe (sashimi). Then they take orders for steak, which is kind of like the old US chain Sizzler, maybe. It's not bad. But I always feel embarrassed because I don't get 20 helpings of food like all the Koreans do – there's a social obligation to eat as much food as humanly possible at buffet-style events. I think this may be connected to the fact that only 50 years ago all Koreans had experienced literal starvation.

Grace is going back home to Canada. "Maybe permanently," she hinted. But I don't think so.

Here's picture of the VIPS at Daehwa, across from the Goyang Stadium, where we went.