Joweun Sullal Bonaessaw...

Woo Big is exhausted. Last weekend he met Extra Fantastic Girlfriend's mom for the first time, and had dinner with them and Extra Fantastic's two older sisters. The oldest sister's boyfriend, Shy Decent Fella, was there too. This occasion was made more singular by the fact that last weekend was also what Canadians know as "Chinese New Year". This holiday falls around the end of January or beginning of February, according to the new year on the lunar calendar. Koreans call the holiday "Sullal" and it is one of two major holidays one spends with one's family. Woo Big brought Mom a bottle of Shiraz, since it's hard to go wrong with Shiraz.

In Korea, the meeting of a girl's family tends to be a big deal. This didn't worry me so much, the heaviness of it. I could deal with that, since I've got long plans for her. I was however, frightfully nervous that I would say or do something that would come off wrong. Woo Big's Korean is as yet in its infancy, and the chances of misconstruction, or dipping rice in the soup, were immense. Woo Big has never in his life been so worried about making the right impression.

Woo Big pulled it off... Extra Fantastic's oldest sister, Funny Sister, kept asking Woo Big questions in Konglish. She is a Konglish genius. Finally she asked if I had any questions for them. I asked the middle sister, Pretty Sister, why she always crops her face out of the frame when she posts photos for her online fashion business. This prompted some teasing from Pretty Sister's siblings about her skinny body and big head. Woo Big told her, "Mawriga ankaw... yepbawyo" meaning I don't think she has a big head at all and that she is pretty. This coming from a foreigner with a narrow cranium prompted sidesplitting laughter from the entire family and made Woo Big a lot less nervous.

That same night Woo Big's coworker and neighbor, Giddy Mamacita, had a party planned at our place, so Extra Fantastic and I bid the family farewell and rushed off to prepare for the occasion. Unfortunately, Big and Fantastic were trapped for hours in one room by a Christian couple, while the rest of the party raged on elsewhere. As I politely tried to explain why I will never be a Christian, the raging chaos finally spilled over and mercifully aborted the attempted conversion.

The next evening, Extra Fantastic's sisters and Shy Decent Fella came over for Go Stop with Big, Fantastic and Giddy. What is Go Stop, you ask? To be continued...