New friends.

Cheon Young

Here is a photo of our newest little pal, Cheon Young. Cheon Young is the 3-yr. old son of Julia, another foreign hagwon teacher. She is from Latvia and her husband is Korean. We've had the pleasure of hanging out with them from time to time, and yesterday, Julia and Cheon Young treated Paul and I to samgyetang in the moggori (restaurant district in Sokcho). Samgyetang is the Korean equivalent of chicken soup, which is a universal comfort food. The only difference is that they give you a bowl with an entire chicken stuffed with rice in it, and the broth is flavored with green onion, ginseng, chestnuts, and jujube. At this particular place they also serve really good radish and cabbage kimchi, in such large chunks that they bring out scissors for you to cut it with.
Usually after we have lunch together Cheon Young is begging to be taken to the playground. So we headed to the one in the center of the eating district, and proceeded to chase him around the jungle gym. He is so energetic and playful, like my nieces and nephews. He easily gets us to try the slide and the swings. He calls us auntie and uncle, and it's really cute. When we part, he always gives us a big hug and a kiss. He's a smart little guy, and will be really ahead of the game one day when he's (probably) tri-lingual (Korean, English, and maybe his mother will teach her native tongue--after all, she speaks seven languages!)