photos from a get-together

The last time I saw my former student Nathan, he was in elementary school (I misremembered that he was in junior high). Well, time flies, and Nathan graduated from college recently. Here are some pics taken by Nathan's family and by me. We ate dinner at a meat restaurant in Gangnam. The first three pics were taken by Nathan's dad.

everyone but Dad, who's taking the shot

your humble narrator and Nathan

I'm obviously telling some riveting story.

The next four pics were taken by me:

Nathan with his little sis inside the restaurant

little sis and little bro

Nathan's parents

the Fabulous Five

Nathan's family first arrived in Korea, then skipped off to Japan to tour around (at one point, they were on Mount Fuji); they came back to Seoul for a couple days, and now, they're off to Jeju Island. They'll come back for a few more days in Seoul, then off they'll go back to the States. I think this trip was partly in celebration of Nathan's graduation, but I think it was also a way for the family to reconnect with the motherland.

It was great to meet Nathan's fun family, and nice to know they've been enjoying their time in Korea. The mom is a CPA who has kept up with her Korean-language skills; she also had a chance to use her Japanese when the family was in Japan. Little sis apparently speaks the best Korean of the three siblings; Nathan says he speaks barely any Korean (correct me if I'm wrong, Nathan). I'm not sure about Nathan's brother's linguistic ability.

When Nathan returns to the States, he's got a CPA exam to look forward to, and a nice job at the prestigious PriceWaterhouseCoopers. He paid for today's very expensive meal, with his dad joking that Nathan was soon to be a "salaryman," deliberately using the Engrish term bandied about all over East Asia. Here's hoping Nathan's upcoming job as an accountant doesn't suck the joy out of his life: Nathan's been a high achiever all through his entire academic career, and I hope he finds his accounting work to be an opportunity to help poor slobs like me who are bad with numbers. As much as accounting might drive me batshit crazy, the world needs its bean-counters.

So good luck to Nathan and to the rest of his lovely family.

Until we meet again (probably in another ten years!).

EPILOGUE: I walked home from the restaurant, taking a long path down to the Tan-cheon, then crossing over and walking along the Tan-cheon's east side before crossing back over and heading to my apartment. That was a good walk, despite the number of people on the path. 19,666 steps total; 187 minutes of walking, 1206 calories burned.