Saturday, March 20, 2021

a visit to #3 Ajumma's art exhibit

My #3 Ajumma had been invited to display two of her paintings at a small art exhibit in the Noweon neighborhood (pronounce it "no one").  The venue was a trendy-looking basement coffee shop with two small art galleries/exhibit spaces in it.  I invited my boss and coworkers to go along; I ended up meeting my boss at the office and riding to the gallery with him and his young son.  Once there, we met #3 Ajumma, and after about an hour, my Korean coworker arrived and joined us.  Ajumma bought us all hot chocolate and iced lattes while she sipped on her Americano.  She also brought cookies baked by a daughter-in-law.  They weren't my favorite kind (I'm not into the fat, cakey cookies, which can be a bit dry; I like the thin, buttery cookies—the classic ones that are crunchy around the outside and gooey on the inside), but they were pretty good.  My boss impressed Ajumma with his fluent Korean; my Korean coworker, who had arrived later than the rest of us, elected to stay a bit longer when we took our leave; he's a graphic designer, which makes him especially qualified to appreciate good art.  The other paintings by other artists are also very nicely done; I didn't take any pictures, but you can imagine various closeups of plants, beach scenes, images of European-style houses nestled in forest settings, and even a couple pictures of house cats.  With the help of my boss's son, I did, however, get two group photos (click to enlarge):

L to R:  Korean coworker, boss, boss's son, #3 Ajumma

L to R:  Korean coworker, boss, yours truly, #3 Ajumma (taken by the boss's son)

Ajumma gave me shit about needing to lose weight and get married, but that's par for the course.  There's no escaping criticism when it comes to ajummas in general.  She apparently talked privately with my boss, asking him if I wasn't married because I'm "too big" (my boss's words).  My boss apparently replied that any woman who thinks that way isn't worth marrying.  Well, good.  But I doubt Ajumma was convinced.  Anyway, we left Ajumma and my Korean coworker to appreciate the gallery, and now I'm back at the office, banging out this blog entry and toiling away on our multi-book project.  How's your weekend going?



2 comments:

John Mac said...

You need to find you a nice Filipina to marry. They care about what's inside. Your wallet.

Kevin Kim said...

A man needs money-vampires in his life.