I am going to a Korean class for fun. It’s free and several of my friends are going as well. It’s in a predominantly Korean area of town in a Korean school (I hadn’t realized how established and intentional the community was). After not understanding anything, the four of us from Lambaré decided to check out this Korean restaurant not far away. We had heard good things about it from the mother of a couple of the students. So we went on an adventure to find this place.
After finally finding it, I looked briefly outside for a menu to check prices, but didn’t see one. We went in, and I glanced around again and seeing nothing decided to just find out later. At the very worst I could use my credit card to pay for lunch. If the kids didn’t have enough, I was happy to treat them to what looked like a really good buffet.
I found out something about Korean food: it’s either spicy as all getout or it’s not. There’s no sort of spicy, no medium, lightly, or American. The weird part of the spicy food was it was also cold. I think it was on purpose. The seem to use a lot of seaweed (I think), but it was good. As far as I know I didn’t eat anything crazy, but how would I know, right? My favorites were probably the little veggie pancakes. In the middle of eating we finally decided to ask about price. A decent buffet for someone who likes adventure for $4. Such a deal (for us North Americans).
When we were ready to pay, I handed the guy my credit card. He handed it back and said they didn’t accept credit cards. Oh. Crap. We gathered all the money between us and were still short 20 thousand guaranies ($4). I think if the father of one of my friends wasn’t close on hand and had the cash, we would be washing dishes for a few days. I would never suspect that this place, which looked really fancy actually, wouldn’t accept credit, but I guess now I know I can’t trust every establishment to handle it. Next time I’ll bring enough for everyone in case I feel like treating.
-j
Disclaimer
For me this story is funny and just another misfit adventure in a foreign culture, but I think it could be embarrassing to the people who were with me. If you know them, please don’t say anything to them. Thanks.
I'm Jason, and I like to write.