Dianne was leaving Korea and hadn't eaten dog soup yet. Neither had Jenny, Ruth, and I, so we set a date. Due to four busy schedules, we set the date a month in advance, on Dianne's last day in Korea. Due to four poor planners, by the time we all got together a month later it felt like we'd spontaneously decided to do it that afternoon. Jennie and I were late, and we got lost.
We got found, too. Then we went to dinner. We were the only people in the restaurant, besides the handful of ajimas working there. They laughed at our broken Korean and laughed at us taking pictures of the food. We laughed, too.
It wasn't bad, the dog soup. It wasn't great either. It was like beef if beef were always too chewy and had a slightly off flavor.
The ajimas had a TV running in the back, and I glanced at it in time to see 'Oklahoma City' flash across the screen in sky blue script. Then I saw a familiar face, though no-one I've ever met personally. It was a face I'd passed while shelving biographies at the bookstore and had caught on an episode of Opera once. It was Faith, the miracle dog.
I looked at the dog on TV.
I looked at the dog in my soup bowl.
It was a beautiful moment. Thank you man's best friend, for loyalty on some days and dinner on others. Thank you universe for sweet moments of irony.
(Thank you Ruth for these pictures I stole off your Facebook page.)
4 comments:
Dog soup??? Are you kidding me???
ha ha ha ha.
Your dog soup looks a lot more delicious than the dog I have eaten (dog kabob is the worst). I am glad to hear that seeing Faith didn't turn you off of your meal.
I think I am a little appalled by this. It never bothered me that people eat dog before(except when I saw a news story about a Saint Bernard farm/ranch where the workers didn't seem to eat dog b/c they liked them too much). This bothered me a little. I'm not judging you. You should try new things. But now I know that I never need to try eating dog.
i would've liked the blog to be a little more fleshed out, but i enjoyed reading the story. i was excited to be informed of your dog eating experience.
Post a Comment