Green Tea Ice Cream

The other night was a very memorable one at the hasukjib.  연장자 (yeonjangja), which is how I jokingly refer to one of the older students at the hasukjib (it means elder or superior, and Nuna liked it so much that she even calls him by that name too), commented on my beard again, as well as the amount of food that I eat.  It was said that there was a previous student living at the hasukjib who ate so much that once he arrived for a meal, all of the other students had to eat really quickly or else all of the food would be gone. I don't think I'm at that point yet.  We were also talking about ice cream during dinner, so I offered to go out and buy some for everyone, on the condition that Yeonjangja would take me to a movie sometime in return.  I was only joking of course, and Yeonjangja suggested that I take Kayeonhee, one of the girls living at the hasukjib as well. I replied "좋겠다!" (That would be good!) and immediately blushed afterwards as everyone started laughing at me.

In the end, Yeonjangja and I went out to bring back some ice cream for everyone from a nearby Baskin Robins.  Yeonjangja's favorite flavor was Gone With The Wind (바람함께...something), and since I had never heard of it, we had to try it.  In addition to Gone With The Wind, we also brought back some Green Tea ice cream for Nuna, her favorite kind.  It was nice to get out with Yeonjangja, and I was able to find out a little bit more about Nuna from him being outside of the hasukjib with him.  He told me that Nuna was very special for all that she does for us at the hasukjib.  For her to be doing the kind of work she does at her young age is also very amazing and something you don't see very often.  The reason why she works at the hasukjib seemed like a private matter, so we just left it at that.  Another thing that I've come to love about Nuna is the way she cares for and raises her daughter.  I know it is definitely no little task preparing all of our meals everyday and keeping up with the work around the hasukjib.  But she does it without asking for anything in return and, on top of that, finds quality time to spend with her daughter.  I can often hear Nuna and her daughter outside my window, and, although Nuna has a layer of toughness about her in order to make it through all of the day's tasks, I know what a kind person and loving mother she is from the way she speaks to her daughter.  While a day in the life of Nuna seems to always involve exhausting work, she seems to have the simple things in life figured out:  taking care of the needs of others, making time for family, and enjoying company of family and friends.  I know I've written about Nuna on several other occasions, but I just think there is a lot to learn from her.

Yeonjangja and I ended up bringing two buckets of ice cream back to the hasukjib which we all shared together.  Nuna really liked her Green Tea ice cream.  There was a real family-like atmosphere to the whole night at the hasukjib, just enjoying each other's company.  Nuna even had Yeonjangja and I challenge each other in a game of arm wrestling to cap off the night's festivities.  I plan to get Nuna another bucket of Green Tea ice cream before I leave.