Stephen CP #2

On this past Saturday John met me at my apartment. It was my birthday this past Friday so John and Seong Bong bought me a gift. The first thing I noticed was that the gift was in a Sponge Bob gift bag. Inside was a really awesome smelling candle and birthday card. The card said "Happy Birthday Brother" and the two of them left me a nice message and they signed their names in English. Their take on their signatures was pretty funny because all they did was scribble a bunch of wavy lines. I was pretty psyched about their gifts and gave the two some hugs. That's one thing I definitely notice about these South Koreans, they are definitely more touchy feely with the same sex. In many ways it feels like they are family; two new brothers.

After opening presents we decided to go to the Leach Center and swim. It was fun because I got to show John some swimming strokes, that he obviously knew, but didn't know the English names for them. We had some races and I won on the breast stroke, and we tied on the freestyle. I also tried to teach Seong Bong how to swim. Right now he uses the kick board to stay afloat and we're training him to kick his legs. I can't believe that he doesn't know how to swim. I thought Korea was surrounded by water!?

Later, we went to Wendy's to find something fast and cheap to eat. I thought it was interesting how John ordered only a sandwich while Seong Bong got a large meal so that the two of them could share. Now that I think about it I'm sure that's cheaper, and in South Korea you usually don't order individually so it makes sense. Maybe I should try that option with my brother sometime. Then John asked me a really random question, do American women hate Asian men? I told him right away that I wouldn't say hate, but maybe not like. I told him that I didn't know that existed but maybe it came from the idea that American women are used to more freedom than traditional Asian women. Also, Seong Bong asked me about how the USA feels about Canada. I told him what the majority of America thinks about Canada... it's cold, not America, and socialist. Then I told him that I didn't agree and that you shouldn't make stereoypes about somebody's character because of where they are from.

On Sunday, Catherine and I met Seong Bong and John at Los Compadres. John wasn't hungry because he had just eaten, but Seong Bong wanted some really spicy food. In turn this meant dumping massive amounts of habenero hot sauce into some salsa and ordering the La Diabla super spicy shrimp. This time John asked Catherine if American women hate Asian men. I think she did a better job than I did and just told John that she had a friend who loved Asian men, and that the stereotype wasn't true. I think that made Seong Bong and John feel better... now I feel bad how I answered the question in the first place. As we prepared to leave we found out that in South Korea they usually don't tip in restaurants and that this was their first time tipping. I explained to them that you usually tip 15-20% and only when you have a waiter. They didn't like this concept at all. Seong Bong liked tipping in Korea because he worked at an Outback Steakhouse and Americans would accidentally tip him. :) One thing they struggled with was the concept of going up to the register and tipping with a credit card. They thought that they had to give their waiter cash, or the man at the register would receive the tip. The kind man at the register realized their confusion and told them that this indeed was not the case.

All in all, another great week with my CP. John will be taking the IBTOEFL exam in 2 months so I need to find him a book and start tutoring him for the test. I felt really good correcting his English this week, and I know he appreciated me helping him. I was pleased with myself because he randomly asked me what the difference was between "I had been" and "I have been". In turn I asked him for an example, and I used his example to explain the difference. He thanked me for helping him understand. This next weekend I will visit John at his home and eat some traditional Korean food. I am pretty stoked!