6/7/11
I am "killing time here at the airport in
Seoul, Korea. Two hours to go till I can hop my flight to Seattle. I have had an
18 hour layover here and I am feeling gratefully refreshed for once! I had
enough "points" to get put up at the Hyatt Regency last night
followed by a buffet breakfast that should hold me till the in flight service
is served. The big white fluffy bed after a real hot shower was heaven. And
guess what I selected for breakfast....wrong... Salad! Lots of baby greens and
Italian prosciutto, cheeses, tomatoes and nuts! I have been craving a great
salad and went for 2nds on that! Yum! (We don't get much for salads in 3rd
world countries... too many risks with germs in the preparations! Not worth
risking a good travel experience over carelessness).
Speaking of risks... I made a poor choice, accidently, the last night I was in K-du. A new Schezwan restaurant across from my hotel has had a hoard of Chinese patrons so I figured it must be good. Don't know what kind of stomach one needs to digest that stuff but obviously mine was not enough of the "cast iron" quality to tolerate that fire! WHOWWWWW! I had the Chicken Peanut (could not find a peanut to save my soul and could not communicate to the waitress that maybe she served me the wrong entree?) and the garlic green beans. I had a pile (and I mean a pile!) of chilies I picked out of both dishes mounded on the side of my plate before I even began to eat! And one bowl of rice was NOT enough to defuse the heat from the rest. I ate it all cause just outside are truly hungry people wishing they could eat anything, hot or not! But tears were streaming down my face as I tried to thank God for every tasty, (spicy) morsel. As I was mopping my face for the last time, and paying my bill, a small boy leaned in over the steps and touched the man across at the next table begging for food. The man shooed him away gruffly. Then he schooched over the steps toward me and touched my leg in a gesture of begging. The proprietor started yelling in Chinese to "get out/ go away"- hostility is understood in any language! The child looked at her in confusion and shame... all the patrons were now focused on him. I tucked my purse up inside my pack and quietly got up, took his little hand like he belonged to me and walked him out to the street where he and I had a dialog... in Nepali ... which we could both understand. I suggested he not antagonize angry people... just move on... and asked him what the problem was. We sat on an empty cold step together while he explained he was hungry... hadn't eaten any rice for 3 days. Well I wasn't about to try to get him dragon food from hostile imbeciles... so went back to my hotel, sat him outside on our steps and told him to sit tight till I got back. Our kitchen had leftovers! About 2 plates of rice and vegetables and a tiny bit of Dal (lentils). I put it on my tab, pack it all up in a plastic bag and had them take it out to the child.
Speaking of risks... I made a poor choice, accidently, the last night I was in K-du. A new Schezwan restaurant across from my hotel has had a hoard of Chinese patrons so I figured it must be good. Don't know what kind of stomach one needs to digest that stuff but obviously mine was not enough of the "cast iron" quality to tolerate that fire! WHOWWWWW! I had the Chicken Peanut (could not find a peanut to save my soul and could not communicate to the waitress that maybe she served me the wrong entree?) and the garlic green beans. I had a pile (and I mean a pile!) of chilies I picked out of both dishes mounded on the side of my plate before I even began to eat! And one bowl of rice was NOT enough to defuse the heat from the rest. I ate it all cause just outside are truly hungry people wishing they could eat anything, hot or not! But tears were streaming down my face as I tried to thank God for every tasty, (spicy) morsel. As I was mopping my face for the last time, and paying my bill, a small boy leaned in over the steps and touched the man across at the next table begging for food. The man shooed him away gruffly. Then he schooched over the steps toward me and touched my leg in a gesture of begging. The proprietor started yelling in Chinese to "get out/ go away"- hostility is understood in any language! The child looked at her in confusion and shame... all the patrons were now focused on him. I tucked my purse up inside my pack and quietly got up, took his little hand like he belonged to me and walked him out to the street where he and I had a dialog... in Nepali ... which we could both understand. I suggested he not antagonize angry people... just move on... and asked him what the problem was. We sat on an empty cold step together while he explained he was hungry... hadn't eaten any rice for 3 days. Well I wasn't about to try to get him dragon food from hostile imbeciles... so went back to my hotel, sat him outside on our steps and told him to sit tight till I got back. Our kitchen had leftovers! About 2 plates of rice and vegetables and a tiny bit of Dal (lentils). I put it on my tab, pack it all up in a plastic bag and had them take it out to the child.
I had to have a lemon soda! My mouth was still on fire from the dragon fuel I had ingested. But when I was done, I slipped back out and sat on our steps with our hotel Nepali staff and asked where the child was. They pointed to a pillar behind the tea shop... a mess of kids were happily chowing down on the first dinner they had had in days! The staff counted 7 street urchins enjoying their feast!
So God can use a flammin' poor choice of shezwan for His glory Eh?
I shut up and endured the logical consequence (burning diarrhea) for the next 24 hours in silence! OW! I'm back to normal now... in fact let me go find some kickin' Korean food now! Though, I'll pass on the Kimchee, thank you very much! (So much for waiting for flight service ... it has been almost 10 hours since breakfast!)
My last 2 days in K-du are a bit of a blur... got so much done I feel like super woman! Shopping for the bakery... J… is headed to Darchula and has to go right through Dadeldhura and is willing to take two huge rolls of cheese, butter and about $100 of other groceries they need out there... cocoa powder, cinnamon etc. I also got our account renewed with a local vendor to show the wares our Paraplegic girls have just made so I was sewing buttons on like crazy trying to get their order ready. Also connected with Y.. and picked up jewelry her girls have made for us, Visited some old friends from 30 years ago!, shopped for sari's and kookris and did my bank work! Yah and had dinner with my dentist and took his village parents out for ice cream! The look on her face as she experienced her first bite was priceless!
Well gotta go for now!
Will be home today.... after a very looooonnnngggg day! I'll connect with you all soon!
Thanks for praying me all the way home!
Dawn Didi
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