Farewell, Tae Hoon oppa!

Today, as I woke up early in the morning, the rain was not very heavy but the wind was very strong. On my way to the lab, I was struggling as I moved forward. I got myself a bit wet. When I arrived there, Jae Hoon oppa was sleeping in the lab again. Dong Hun oppa arrived shortly after that. Around 12pm, more and more of my labmates begun to gather at the lab. My professor was there as well. I haven’t really seen him for quite a long time already since he is always at 2nd floor, busy with the NURI project. We will be having lunch together this afternoon as a farewell party for Tae Hoon oppa as he will be departing to Malaysia tomorrow. Tae Hoon’s wife, Young Sil onni and I took Tae Hoon’s oppa car while the others took the professor’s car.

The restaurant was somewhere near Gaygeum, but the opposite direction. It was a traditional Korean restaurant. There were around 10 of us. The side dishes here were really nice – tofu with sauce, marinated onions. The main dish was Samgye-tang(Ginseng Chicken Soup). The body cavity of a small chicken is stuffed with rice, young ginseng shoots, and jujubes. Then, it is boiled in a clear stock and served in an individual earthenware pot (quoted from “Life in Korea”). A small bowl of salt was given to us. The soup was rather plain when I first tasted it. Later, I found out that we actually need to add salt into it. We can adjust the taste by ourselves as we decide the amount of salt to be put in. Each of us was actually given one bowl of it, with the whole chicken. Luckily that it was a small chicken, though it was not really that small. I had taken some photos on the food and my labmates, too bad Young Sil onni refused to take any pictures. Throughout the whole meal, they were talking to each other in Korean. I had no idea what they were talking about. Tae Hoon oppa was not talking much to me today as his wife was around :P My professor was sitting beside me and doing most of the talking. It was not nice to bug in him when he was talking as well. I looked around hoping that someone would translate what they were talking to me in English. But, none seemed to do so. I asked Tae Hoon oppa what they were talking about after they finished and he told me that they were talking about the seminar, presentation by the lab members.
(p/s: “onni” here is a term referring to older female senior by younger female junior)

After lunch, all my labmates went back to the lab. For the first time in a while, the lab was happening again. The guys were busy playing games whereas Young Sil onni was reading some stuff. Jae Hoon oppa was playing some games and making funny duck sounds. Jang Chun oppa was listening to mp3 as usual.

My labmates went back quite early today and for the first time, my professor was in lab with me. As usual, he was very quiet. But, at least he was in the lab ^^