luncheon success!

And just like that, the luncheon is done. I didn't take many pictures—just a few snaps of the food. My previous team leader was there, along with two of my coworkers and a new Korean lady I'd never met before. She proved to be nice, speaking to me in a mixture of Korean and English. I'd been told that the office I was visiting had its own cafeteria-like area, and that proved to be true: we all sat at a booth, and I added a small, square table as an extension—a place to spread out my food so I could serve people.

the spread (green-topped box: cookies; dark-brown box: steak)

my plate, with a 300-gram filet

the three dipping sauces (could be a Tolkien novel): chimichurri, butter-garlic, and pan sauce

would've been nice to have had a better spatula: the first slice of pie I served didn't have its bottom

plastic knife that cut the pie, spatula/knife combo at bottom

I was to meet my ex-coworkers in the Classia building, where I used to work. Somehow, though, I got it into my old, senile head that they were still in the Parthenon building, which is just down the street. So when I caught a cab, I told the cabbie to take me to the Parthenon building, and when I got there, lugging my heavy wares and sweating in the summer heat and humidity, I went to the fourth floor and saw no trace of my company's name anywhere. In desperation, I checked the email on my phone to verify where I needed to be, and sure enough, I was supposed to be at Classia, not Parthenon. Fuck. I lumbered back outside, caught another cab, and went two blocks up the street to the Classia building. Caught the elevator to the fourth floor and found my old coworkers right there after some confusion at the front desk (the lady at the front desk didn't know the name of the company she was working for*).

Luckily, I had intended to arrive very early so I'd have time to set up, which means that, despite my delay, I still managed to get to our luncheon spot by 1 p.m. Everyone loved the food, and everyone ate everything they were served for once (at my current office, one of my coworkers will sometimes not finish his food... grrrr). Actually, everyone served themselves: they plopped potatoes and peas onto their plates, microwaved them, then came back to the table, where I served them their steaks and sauces (in cute little dipping dishes). I solved the steak-warming problem by bagging the seared steaks up in a large Ziploc bag at home, squeezing air out of the bag, then immersing the Ziploc in an airtight snap-lid box filled with hot water. Worked like a charm, even if we had to deduct points for presentation. (Chafing dishes will have to be the next step in my catering service's evolution.)

The apple pie was a resounding success. Everyone guessed the secret ingredient was pineapple, mainly because it was easy to see the pineapple chunks inside the pie. People agreed that the pineapple did indeed enhance the pie's flavor; one ex-coworker said that the pineapple made the pie more appropriate for summertime eating. I'd have to agree: the pineapple's sweet tartness brightened the whole thing up and made it livelier.

The other components were fine, too: the peas/carrots mixture was solid, and the mashed potatoes were properly rib-sticking. At least one ex-coworker dug in and had seconds on almost everything. I ended up with leftovers, as I usually do, but as you see above with the pie photo, most of what I brought was eaten. My ex-teammates helped me by washing up the dishes and utensils; I packed everything up and headed back to my own office. My current coworkers can now enjoy the leftovers.

It was good to see my ex-coworkers again, however briefly. One of them is leaving Korea in two months to move to Japan, where she'll basically be starting over. She's an Arizonan who gained a pretty good mastery of Korean, and she's been studying Japanese for a few years, now. She said the first thing she'll be doing in Japan is taking intensive Japanese courses; I don't blame her. Learn the language of the country you're in! Show an actual interest in the culture! Don't just hang around your own kind day in and day out, living in your bubble of fear and incuriosity! I'm talking to you, Itaewon expats!

My other ex-coworker finally got married last year; I used to pester him about when he was going to pull the trigger and finally marry his live-in girlfriend. I asked him how his first year of marriage has been, and he said it's not much different from when they were unmarried and living with each other. I guess that's the advantage of living together first: no unwelcome surprises once you get hitched. I've heard horror stories about people who, once married, reveal their true nature and turn out to be demons. 

My former team leader is also contemplating marriage, but while he said it might happen this year, he's also in no hurry. With the pandemic still seemingly in full swing, a lot of people have put things on hold. The guy is probably wise to wait until he feels ready. Plunging into marriage just because of cultural pressure to do so is stupid. I've been around long enough to see both successful marriages and marriages that have imploded. The successful marriages are based on a foundation of sincere love, that "balls to bone" readiness that the Oracle talked about in "The Matrix." Alas, too many people get married for all the wrong reasons, and the result is they end up wasting each other's time or even destroying each other's lives. "Sad!" as Trump would say. Don't marry if you're not ready for marriage.

But things like marriage and new futures are overly heady topics for a simple discussion about lunch. Suffice it to say that everything went well, and since today is a cheat day, I think I'll go have myself a soda or two. Or three.

__________

*I went up to the front desk at the fourth floor of the Classia building and asked if this was the Golden Goose (sorry—just my code name for the company I work for). The lady looked at me, confused, then said the company I was looking for was in the next building over. I asked if I was not in the Classia building. She said, "Yes, this is the Classia building." Then I should be in the right building, I said, getting frustrated by how obtuse the lady was. 

Eventually, a random male staffer came over and asked me who I was looking for. I told him one of my ex-worker's names; he lit up and went to find her. Right as he did so, my ex-coworker walked into view down the hall; I called out to her, and all was OK after that, although I did gripe loudly about how the front-desk staffer didn't even know her own company's name. I'm turning into a bitter old fart, I swear. But that front-desk lady was a stupid bitch. Worst part of the day, but luckily, forgettable.