Meeting the Family...and the Waffle King!

One of the main reasons I came out to Korea was to meet some members of my family (on my mom's side) for the first time. I've spent the last few years traveling to Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore to visit family, and Korea was the last destination on my list. I don't speak any Korean (other than food), and most of my family doesn't speak English, so was interested to see how my interactions would be. Luckily for me, my Uncle Terry speaks very fluent English, so he was able to translate (as well as ask me if I'm getting married anytime soon, naturally :)).

Along with my Uncle Terry, I met his wife and two kids, as well as his brother, sister, and mother (my great aunt in law). Even though my trip was relatively short notice and I didn't get to spend a lot of time with everyone, they welcomed me very warmly and with open arms. (On a side note, my family's honesty is second to none. One of the first things my great aunt told me was that my brother was more handsome than I was :P).

BBQing with the family.

Mini-reunion at my aunt's house.

I love traveling by myself and exploring new places, but the great thing about having family take me around is that I get to eat amazing local dishes, that I'd never even know to order. Here is a smattering of the dishes I've eaten with my family:

BBQ duck on a spit! Amazing.

The crispy end result.

Spicy duck soup.

Grilled mackerel and kim-chi soup.

Now to answer the 20 million dollar question: who's the Waffle King? When my Uncle Terry picked me up from the airport, he said he wanted to take me to his office to see what he did. He mentioned that he started a franchising business of coffee shops with (wait for it...) waffles! The coffee shops are called Waffle Kings, and since my uncle started this company, that would make him the Waffle King...King. He took me to a one of the local Waffle Kings and let me sample some of the delicious waffles and I was not disappointed.

The inner workings of a Waffle King.

Mmmmmmm..

Even though this was the first time meeting my family, and it was only for a short time, my family (like the rest of the family I've met over the past few years) was so generous with their time in taking me around and feeding me - something I'm more grateful for than a blog can express. If there's anything I've learned over the past few years, it's that I'm enormously blessed to have the loving family that I have - both at home and abroad.

Now off to find a wife so my family can start asking me new questions!