Saying Anyo

Quick correction to earlier post. One astute reader took umbridge with my less-than-generous characterization of "The Wizard" last week. While I stand by my Walton-esque description of it as "just terrrrrrible," I completely forgot that the movie previewed "Super Mario Brothers 3," the defining video game of my adolesncence. You could turn Mario into a flying beaver, for crying out loud! Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

Anyway, "anyo" means "so long," and since I'm leaving Korea in a few days, I've begun saying "anyo" to the places I've been frequenting for the past few months. I've developed an elaborate and, I think, rather effective pantomime indicating that I'm leaving Korea (it involves pointing to myself, making a series of "birds flying away" gestures with my hands, and then pointing to a calendar), so I've been able to convey the imminency of my departure to local merchants, restauranteurs and others with whom I've developed something of a rapport. When I told the people at my bulgogi restaurant the other night, they gave me a small bottle of some sort of warm yogurt drink. I'm not going to touch it ("warm yogurt drink" seems like the perfect way to get food poisoning before I go to Japan), but I appreciate the sentiment. I also got a parting gift from my Starbucks friends (which seems appropriate, given that I spent about $15,000 there this summer), and a very enthusiastic goodbye when I got my hair cut a second time.

My parents (whom we'll call POTGOS--"Parents of the Godfather of Seoul"--I know, it's a mouthful. I'm open to suggestions for alternatives to POTGOS) arrived in Seoul last night, so I get to show them around for a few days before we take off. It will be nice to get to be a little bit of an expert for a change. I only have a limited number of meals with them before we leave, so I'm trying to figure out exactly which Korean foods to showcase. Be assured that any type of yogurt drink will not make the list. Soju, however, will, and pictures of my father singing kareoke will open at $59.99 on ebay.