Just discovered that I have missed the 2003 Boryeoung Mud Festival, which sounds just too fun for words. Oh well. Next year?

I'm not sure, of course, but yesterday hk may have participated in a Korean first when she sat down at a pojangmacha (an outdoor food stand) and had ddokbokki, chicken kebabs and soju with her dad.

Actually, my dad was already there and pretty far gone (from a bottle of soju) when I walked out from the subway station and heard him call my name. He'd been sitting there a while already, at the pojangmacha he favors, sipping soju and chatting with the proprietors. He used to do this more often, but in the name of moderation, he started exiting the subway at a different location, so as not to pass by the cart without stopping there and sitting down. He sometimes buys a box of cigarettes that the husband likes, smokes a couple, and leaves the box there.

The wife-husband team have been at this location for over 10 years, and expect to be there even after the apartment complex is torn down and new condos built. They sent three kids through college this way.

The wife, who is probably in her 50s or so, had a tired but pleasant face, and insisted on pouring a glass of soju for me, as well as giving me my food for free.

As we walked home, my dad expounded -- as he is wont to do when soused -- on the value of sitting at a pojangmacha, watching the ordinary citizens of Korea stop by for a snack or a drink. These are the food carts that my mother told me never to eat at, for fear of food poisoning. My mother's always tried to protect me from the ordinary.