A Korean Dinner

There is a Korean family whose kids attend my school. Well, there's a lot, actually. But I'm talking about one family in particular. As is the case with many Korean families here, the mom lives in town with the kids so that they can attend school while the dad works somewhere else. That situation works for many families. But it's not working for this family. They are struggling without their dad/husband here with them. The kids are acting out in various ways and the mom is having a hard time with the whole single parenting thing. I've gotten to know her a bit this semester as we've worked together to help her son especially. I teach him, and he and I have a good relationship. According to his mom, he respects me more than he respects her, and because of that, I have a lot of influence in his life.

Last week, the mom told me that her husband was coming to town and staying until the end of the semester to help her with the kids. She also said that her husband wanted to meet me, so they invited me over for dinner on Thursday, which happened to be last night. I've never been to a Korean home for dinner. Therefore, I had no idea what to expect at dinner last night.

Oh, yes. And one thing I've failed to mention is that neither of the parents speak English. They do both, however, speak fairly good Indonesian. It sometimes takes a little decoding as they translate their thoughts from Korean to Indonesian, then I back-translate from Indonesian to English. But our communication usually works out. And I'm getting really good at speaking Indonesian with a Korean accent.

I quickly exhausted the TWO Korean words I know. But the dad's Indonesian was much better than I expected it to be, and we settled right in to a great conversation about what God is doing on the island where he works! Then the mom called us to the dinner table, where she had a Korean feast laid out. The dad invited me to pray over the food, and I said I would, as long as I could pray in English!

I love most Korean foods, but since I've never actually eaten WITH Koreans, I told the kids to serve themselves first, and I'd follow. I had no plate, so I really wasn't sure what the protocol was. They had kindly set my place with a fork and spoon, but as they started grabbing food off platters with chopsticks, I quickly realized the fork and spoon were going to slow me down, so I requested a pair of chopsticks too. Much to my own delight and amazement, I managed to not drop any food on the table or my lap. I hope they were equally as delighted and amazed with my chopsticking skills.

Over dinner, the parents would talk to each other and the kids in Korean, the kids and I spoke English, and the parents and I spoke Indonesian. It was quite the multi-lingual event. We talked about everything from shotgun weddings to how your pee can turn purple if you eat enough dragon fruit (which we were eating). It was a lot more laid back than I expected dinner in a Korean home to be! And I really, genuinely enjoyed it.

After dinner, the mom told her daughter to go to the piano (she is one of the most incredible pianists I have ever heard in my life, and she brought her piano with her from Korea!), and asked if we could sing some worship songs together. It took some work to think of songs we all knew, but we eventually found two, and we sat around the piano singing together. Then the dad asked if he could pray, which of course everyone agreed to.

It was a fun cultural experience. And it was neat getting to spend time in the home of fellow believers. We don't have the same first language, and we don't have the same cultural background. But we have Jesus. And we can worship Him together no matter what!