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20 (Wed) September 2017

Hobak Jjigae

3.0

by Mom

at their home

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Korea-

solo

Mission to Korea, Day 1.

In Seoul.  Here to scope out – Thursday – the accommodations for an upcoming meeting on health ethics that we’re co-organizing with the National Bioethics Committee and also to attend a symposium on healthy ageing – Friday – hosted by the National Assembly.

The evening started out great.  Mom’s simple home-cooking – including one of my all-time favorites: squash (hobak) stew (jjigae) with tofu –  is always a treat (see also 7.325 Mom’s Comfort Food).

But then … we started talking politics – spurred by something on the news about President Park Geun Hye.  I had never before talked politics with my parents.  Got real ugly real fast.  They’re extreme right-wing conservatives.  And me, not sure where I fall within the context of Korean politics, but I am not an extreme right-wing conservative.  And that, apparently, makes me a communist.  In the end, my mother told me that I was no longer welcome in her home; I could stay the night but never come back – not kidding.