Martoons

Today: Fred and Donna meet up for dinner.

Cast of characters

Fred

Donna

Scene: Ice Noodle Restaurant

*

Donna arrived at Central a bit early to pick Fred up for their Friday dinner date.

Waiting in the staff room alone, for the first time since coming to Korea she actually had a minute to herself and sank into thought.

Ever since Fred had run up to her at the bus stop a few days ago, she was curious about what he wanted to talk about.

She’d sensed something was bugging him.

* What do you think Fred wants to talk to her about? *

Fred came in. “Where’s your boy toy?” he asked, chuckling.

His humour didn’t rub Donna the right way and hit a raw nerve. “He was going to try to sneak out of work early to meet us.”

She shrugged. “Zero sign of him so far.”

Her tone of voice was tinged with scorn.

“You’ve been here longer than me but I don’t think you can sneak out of work early in this country.”

“Unless you’ve got a convincing excuse – like someone close to you’s in hospital.”

Fred scoffed. “Yeah, from what I see excuses are important around here – everybody seems to make them, and there’s a select few excuses that nobody seems to question.”

“You’re learning the Korean way quickly!”

Fred shrugged. “Anyway, looks like whatever excuse your boyfriend used didn’t fool his boss. I’ve noticed that Koreans seem to work much harder than Canadians. Long hours are part of the job description.”

“That job description also includes soju with colleagues after work. I guarantee you, that’s where my boyfriend is right now. They do that every night. They all do.”

Fred shrugged again as Donna seemed to know what she was talking about, and then his stomach growled.

“Looking forward to dinner. Just hope you’re not taking me to a rice and kimchi place. I’ve been eating that almost every meal back at Mrs Won’s apartment. Kind of loses its effect after a while. You eat it and ten minutes later you’re hungry again.”

“Food here is a divisive issue with waygooks,” Donna commented.

“They seem to love it or hate it.”

Fred told her it was love at first bite ever since that first meal back at Master Lee’s house after the Tae Kwon Do tournament.

“I haven’t got out to any restaurants here yet. I walked into one the other day but didn’t stay. Right after I sat down, all these Korean eyeballs were staring at me. I looked around and realized that I was the only person eating by myself. Honestly, I’ve never felt so alienated. Talk about excuses – I told the restaurant ajumma that I had to go to church and left.”

“We Koreans do everything in groups. We don’t like to eat alone.”

It sounded a bit odd to Fred that Donna was now calling herself a Korean.

* Had Donna not considered herself Korean before? *

She continued: “Koreans think when you eat together the food tastes better.”

Fred was finding the discussion already fascinating, but Donna was losing interest.

“Well, I guess he’s not coming. Let’s go!” she snapped, getting up from her chair at the round table and leading Fred down the stairs.

Out in the street Donna casually elevated her arm and a taxi instantly appeared and took them a short distance to an eatery.

It was filled to the brim with well-dressed businessmen and prim, proper, heavily made-up secretaries – the after work crowd.

Fred immediately saw what Donna had mentioned – the Korean work ethic included heavy socializing with your boss and office cohorts, lubricated with the little clear and lethal bottles of soju.

At several tables that Fred perused, an older well-dressed man would be talking loudly with prominent hand gestures, while the subordinates around the table sat quietly with their heads bowed listening.

Bosses are kind of like Gods here, Fred mused.

Meanwhile, the waitress led him and Donna through the crowded establishment to a space at a long table.

Donna was scanning the room while they walked.

* Who could Donna be looking for? *

*

Tomorrow: Fred and Donna get some noodles . . . on the rocks.