I am bursting. I have gotten as close to eating until I puke as I ever will without actually vomiting. Why? I had a buffet-style dinner with my dad, aunt, and uncle--the one who manages the hotel I am currently at. I was really excited to see stuff at the buffet that I had been working on in the kitchen. I wasn't all too hungry, but since it was a buffet, I sampled a bit of everything anyway. Since there was a fruit section, I stuffed my face with fruits because that's what I do. Right as I finished my plate of fruits and was feeling rather full, one of the servers brought a pretty, and huge, plate of fruits, carefully arranged and decorated, from the kitchen downstairs. My family members were also quite full, and I don't even know if they actually like fruit, so no one was particularly keen on making a huge dent in the platter. I contemplated just leaving it there...and then the image of the kind chef who was working hard downstairs, probably diligently placing the fruits in an aesthetic way, the same way he was when I was watching him do the same thing earlier, popped into mind. So I ate the fruits. And then I almost vomited. I didn't even know it was possible to feel that way after eating fruits, but it is. Very possible. I didn't manage to eat everything either; I left some pieces behind, but had I eaten more, I definitely would have ventured from nearly throwing up to actually throwing up.
If I hadn't met the cold-foods chef, and if he weren't such a nice guy, and if he didn't thoroughly and kindly make sure I had something to do all day yesterday, I wouldn't have tried so hard to eat the damn fruits. Those kinds of things can't be undone, however.
Speaking of work in the kitchen, I moved from the cold foods section to the hot foods section today. The chef presiding over me was this awesome, super nice, super cool lady. Her English was alright, but she spoke to me in mostly Korean. Most of the kitchen staff was under the belief that I spoke absolutely zero Korean, and basically didn't talk to me period, so it was nice that someone believed in me enough to think I could understand her if she spoke in Korean and attempted to make conversation. I did actually understand most of what she said too.
I helped make a vat of mushroom soup today. Seriously, it was a vat. Picture a pot large enough to fit a human, and that's how much soup I dealt with. After I had washed so many mushrooms, and was in the midst of feeding them through a slicing machine (what is up with this kitchen and mushrooms??), I saw another cart of some four hundred eggs, and I prayed that I would not be the one doing the cracking today. My prayers were answered, and another chef, the high-pitched dude, picked up the eggs and started cracking away. He was ridiculously quick; I think he finished them in less than half the time it took me to do the same job yesterday. I have much respect for chefs.
On top of washing and machine-slicing the mushrooms, I got to wield a gigantic immersion blender and blend the mushrooms in the cauldron thing for soup. The blender was huge and heavy, and by the end of the stirring/blending I thought my arms were going to fall off. Chefs are buff; I don't know how they do that kind of stuff all day. I also got to slice potatoes for potato gratin and shred orange peels to season some fish. These jobs were assigned to me by the aforementioned female chef who was awesome. I was happy to do something that required a little bit of skill, and that she thought I was actually capable of doing the work she assigned me. I think my motto for the day, and maybe for many future moments in my life, is "if there exists a person who believes you can do something, you can surely do it." I know it's cheesy, but I was really touched. I didn't even know I could slice potatoes or peel oranges that well. Or understand that much Korean, for the matter.
Anyway, today's kitchen experience was fantastic. I swear, kitchen-folk are angels. I look forward to what I'll be doing tomorrow. Ooh also, I got to eat shaved ice, which I have been craving since I watched Mr. Cool-cold-chef-nice-guy-dude make one yesterday. Really, I think if I were to become a chef, I might want to specialize in cold stuff because pretty much everything I want to eat is what this dude makes. I love shaved ice, and he's in charge of that stuff, I had been lusting after some pineapple/fruit, which is what he was slicing earlier, and I was ecstatic to devour a cheese platter at dinner, which is what I was watching him arrange yesterday. Yeah. But shaved ice, fruits, and cheese...who wouldn't crave that stuff after seeing it made? I think my favorite people in the kitchen, coincidentally the people who talk to me the most, whether in broken English or grade school-level Korean, are the lady chef and the cold chef dude. Oh, and the head chef, since he pops in to check on me every so often too. They're super nice people.
As for my day outside the kitchen, I went for a walk with my dad in this casually gigantic park just outside of the hotel. It looks like nothing from the outside, but once you go up the stairs, there are all these trees and plants and a canal with boats. You can't see any of this from street level. I had a field day with my camera. There was this area with a ton of HUGE spiders on their webs, suspended between trees, and they looked really cool. I think I might actually really like spiders.
Somewhere in the park was this huge setup of reenactments from the Bible. I'm not gonna lie; it was really spooky. The props must have been really old because they were peeling and rusting, and some things were slightly graffiti-ed. I think there must be some message to take away from the scene, but I haven't quite placed what. I somehow found it really hard to leave the area, and my camera kept hovering back. Maybe I'm in for some crazy religious ride soon, who knows?
So that was my day. I think the amount I write is directly proportional to how bored I am/how much free time I have. I have a feeling that when I actually have something to do besides sit at my computer, my blog will get very lonely, but for now, sit at my computer is all I do, so update my blog I shall.
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