WATER COOLER!
Well, it's confirmed. I'm losing command of English (and at a much faster rate than I'm learning Korean), and there ain't no denying it. A shout-out to Brooke for sending me the answer first and, er...at all. As grand prize winner, she gets a big bowl of kimchee stew, any time during the next 11 months, in Seoul.
So last night I had dinner unexpected with the president of the Korea Foundation. Myung-soo had two tickets to see a concert at the Seoul Art Center, so she invited me, and then the president found out and decided she would treat us to dinner. So we met her and went downstairs with her and her driver whisked us away in a nice black car, all the time chatting about this or that. In the car, Myung-soo said her name was rather masculine, and the president said her name was rather masculine too, which helped her gain more respect at the start of her career.
It was a little weird - the weirdness of having dinner with your boss' boss' boss, with an extra dash of weirdness thrown in. Like, I'm not sure how deferential I should be - as a Korean employee, I'd be using the highest form of respectful address to talk to her and being very kow-tow-y. As an American, I'm not expected to know how things are, and so (hopefully) was excused for any etiquette breaches last night. As a Korean-American, well, I kind of know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't really want to do it, as I'm not culturally used to showing that much respect to anyone.
Well, maybe that's not true. Some college professors lived on that god-like level of social hierarchy, I suppose. We stared at them, awestruck, in lecture and once a semester in section, and they did their lofty god-like things in colloquiums and classrooms and offices and conferences. I wonder what it's like to be so comfortable with a mantle that automatically demands so much respect.
Must say, dinner was really good - soon dubu (a kind of hot tofu casserole) that actually matched the stuff I had in L.A. with Sarah (hey Sarah, I finally found a place that's as good as ours! (I told the prez I'd tell you, too)). Afterwards, so as to be able to meet other similarly elevated personages, the president hauled ass to the venue, with Myung-soo and I in tow.

One last note - I am in the midst of writing a letter for the prez, and just showed a draft to her. She was coming back from the ladies' as I came in, and was wearing -- as is typical in Korean offices -- house slippers on her teeny elegant feet. Hee hee. I wish presidents in American companies did that.