National Television

At 6:30 last night we were sitting around, about to start making dinner, when Mark called and invited us over for dinner/filming. We only met Mark on Saturday night at a birthday gathering at the local club, Elle Lui, so this was a bit of a surprise, but a pleasant one nonetheless. He offered to come by and pick us up, so we were outside and waiting by the Hai Tai Market within a few minutes.

When we arrived at his apartment (on the 15th floor of a high rise, in a sea of high rise apartment buildings), a cameraman, a high-up boss and a Korean friend were waiting. It turns out that Mark's job is pretty high-profile - he is one of the first teachers to teach at the schools on the islands near Yeosu. The island kids would not normally get any English instruction, but a large company is sponsoring Mark... so of course the company wants some publicity. Thus, a tv special on Mark's life - doing the laundry, cooking dinner, entertaining guests (us), preparing his lesson plans, talking to his family on the internet, etc.

Our grand television entrance started out by knocking at the door and being welcomed in the apartment. Hugs all around, despite the fact that we had known each other exactly 24 hours. The cameraman then wanted to interview me about where I was from, how I felt about the dinner party, how long I had known Mark... I was prompted to say "I've known Mark for about a year now, and we're very good friends". When I said I was from Canada, they all exclaimed "Oh, you're from the same country". As soon as he stopped filming, I turned to Mark to ask him: "You're from Canada too? Where are you from?"

It all turned out very well. The dinner Mark cooked was very delicious* ("magisoyo", which I had to say on camera), and it was fun to hang out with the group.

I also found out that this will be broadcast nationally on the Korean equivalent of the CBC - I've been asked to keep my co-workers posted on the date and time of the broadcast. I'm going to be "very famous"!


*"very delicious" is the common phrase used to describe any meal. It applies even if the food is barely edible. Of course, the dinner was actually very good, but there is no way to distinguish between barely edible and very good, because everything is described as "very delicious".