ESL Service Learning Project - Sushi and Korean BBQ

Towards the beginning of my ESL conversation partner meetings we decided that we would like to start going out to try different restaurants when we met each week. I thought it would be fun to try out several different kinds of Asian food so that maybe Myungseon could teach me more about the options and more of the traditional way to eat them. The first on our list was Piranha’s Killer Sushi. We went to one downtown and sat at the sushi bar. It was Myungseon’s first time at Piranha’s so she definitely got to try several new things. While I had been there many times it was fun going with Myungseon because we ended up trying sashimi and a new signature roll that I had never had before. We even ended up getting one roll for free because we made friends with one of the sushi chefs! One thing she taught me was to mix in some of the wasabi with the soy sauce to dip the sashimi in. It ended up being awesome and I will probably do that from now on!

The second restaurant we went to was the Korean Barbeque House. I found out more about the food here of course because Myungseon is Korean. It is most common to receive a “lunch box” of sorts for your meal that has the barbequed meat, rice, and several sides. There are several different kinds of meat used for the barbeque; three that Myungseon told me about were Bulgogi, Carabi, and Galbi. For one of the sides there’s a spicy sauce called Kimchi that is put on cabbage or cucumber pieces. For an appetizer we had a Japanese version of miso soup (the Korean version is called Deonjang) and Bihn dae ttuk which is a type of “Korean pizza”. The Bihn dae ttuk was made up of cheese, leek, octopus and other vegetables and was really good! The whole meal ended up being awesome!

I think Myungseon enjoys my willingness to try all kinds of things because she always seems surprised when I try something like the spicy Kimchi and chunks of octopus in cheese and end up liking it! I love learning about her culture and just getting to hang out. Myungseon’s English is so good so it makes it really easy to just sit and talk about all kinds of things. Having some kind of activity like going to restaurants has also helped keep the conversation going because I can always ask about the food we’re having and how it’s different of similar to tradition Korean food.

Next week we will be going out for Vietnamese noodles so more to come!

“The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

Vocabulary from the story:

• Solids – bullets?
• Gimlet – a cocktail made of gin or vodka and lime juice
• Quid – British pound: the basic unit of money in Great Britain and Northern Ireland; equal to 100 pence
• Birching – Striking with a light wooden rod or bundle of twigs, traditionally from the birch tree.
• Memsahib - European married lady

This story indeed shows a short happy moment in Mr. Macomber’s life just before his wife snatches it away from him. I wouldn’t consider this to be his life although it may seem like he has finally gained life from his newfound confidence. He actually has had a very sad life. His beautiful wife is only interested in him for his money and he has no confidence to stand up to her even though she cheats on him and bosses him around constantly. 

I found when Mrs. Macomber’s shot Francis it very surprising not only to the reader but also to her. Whenever she would disagree or get angry or embarrassed by Francis she would lash out by cheating on him or being rude, actions that are not necessarily final and will fade with time. Her rage that was caused by Francis’s new confidence blindly led her to lash out but this time her actions were final. That is probably why she was crying. She probably didn’t mean to kill him but she meant to do some kind of revenge just not something as final as death. She is a jealous, self-involved woman that couldn’t stand for her husband to be happy or escape from her. 

I find the role of the professional hunter with them to be rather interesting. He has such a blunt and simple point of view that gives an interesting perspective to the story. This is just another hunting excursion to him so he doesn’t seem as affected by all the events that unfold. He handles the death of Francis so easily and even has the guts to chide Mrs. Macomber after the fact. He seems to just take things as they come and not hold grudges which makes the story less depressing.

I think the lion incident in this story is blown out of proportion. Mrs. Macomber is so bent out of shape about her husband being scared of a full grown lion and believes him to be a coward. Although it is a little embarrassing to be caught running from the lion while another man shoots it down I do not think that makes him a coward. I would be scared of that lion too! I’m sure Mrs. Macomber would be also but she didn’t have to deal with actually facing down the lion so she keeps a cool disposition toward her husband and severely judges him for being human and having rational fears.