Chingu

안녕, 친구아! How was your trip home?

Saturday afternoon, I fetched unni Eun Jung (Louise) from her hotel, Mandarin Oriental. She would be staying at my house overnight until her flight on Sunday (today) after lunch. I was so excited to have her over that I bought a sofa bed. I had to forego some of my usual activities (choir and dance practice) to show unni around.

I' m really thankful that Jed, my colleague and fellow Korean culture fan, agreed to come with us. We decided to go to Gateway Mall instead of exploring Timog/Tomas Morato since three years ago, duon na rin namin sila dinala. Randy wasn't able to make it (He's one of unni's favorite teachers, hehehe!) but Paul met us for dinner. Unni Eun Jung was always game. We had a big dinner at Burgoo and coffee at The Coffee Beanery. We stayed and chatted until 11 pm...my mother was already texting me and was worried...I think she was dying to meet my friend more than she's worried about me getting kidnapped. Hehehe.

We stayed up late, and I forced (take note!) her to listen to me singing Korean songs (Maegi and Noon Eh Ggot). I told her she couldn't eat breakfast if she did not compliment my Korean pronunciation! Seriously, she's so generous with her praises that I felt like blushing (sa kulay kong ito???) everytime she'd tell me my pronunciation is perfect. Ha ha! Singing is so different from talking, I told her, but I promised to improve on my spoken Korean, nonetheless.

Mostly, we compared our culture and talked about family. We gossiped about Randy (well, actually, we speculated on how old Randy really is - good thing he doesn't know this blog existed or I'll be done for) and Korean stars. She is quite amazing for someone who often says she's not fluent in English. Her grammar and vocabulary are both quite good. Ako pa yata naubusan ng English eh!

I woke up early and didn't want to wake her up. She needs to be at the airport three hours before her flight, so I let her sleep around for a bit. I contemplated on not really waking her up until it's too late so she'll be forced to stay an extra night, but I got scared of Korean wrath. Ha ha ha. Baka isumpa ako, tuluyan ko nang hindi makikilala ang aking mga oppa!

My mom prepared a big big breakfast. She took out the entire content of our ref. Kahit ako, nanlaki mga mata ko sa dami! There were kutchinta and niyog, buchi, tuyo (salted fish), a kind of soup/stew which turned out to be my dong saeng's experiment, tofu, longganisa, tomatoes, pandesal, bottled kimchi, fried rice, cottage cheese, melon, and grapes. But unni was not as voracious an eater as I am, so she ate mostly fruits, though she enjoyed the longganisa and pandesal.

After breakfast, we washed up and got dressed. My mom insisted on us taking her to the airport because, well, obvious ba, hindi naman ganun ka-safe and streets natin especially for foreigners, even if it's still morning. On our way to the airport, we had last minute chika pa. Since di rin kami papasukin sa loob, and there were plenty of people already lining up (due to Ramadan yata, daming Muslims eh), we just dropped her off, said our brief goodbyes and promised to write as soon as possible. Talagang hindi ko linya ang magpaalam, I am clueless as to what to do, so as finale, I gave her a hug.

She should be in Korea now, snuggled in bed, ready to take on her new job tomorrow. We met briefly three years ago, exchanged correspondences until now, and I hope we'd be able to maintain our friendship even across seas. Ay ang drama ko na naman, noh?

Basta next time, ang linya ko: Korea, chingu, here I come!

PS: No pictures...chingu's wishes. Lol.