So that's how they get the STING in STING-ray!

Koreans seem to have this uncanny ability to justify why one should eat some of the most unappetizing food out there. Fermented soy bean soup that even Korean's tell you smells bad? It prevents cancer. Kimchi at every meal? It burns fat. Ginseng? Gives you stamina. Raw trout? It makes woman's skin nice. Rotting sting ray? It cures the common cold.

Let me back up a little... I have been sick all this week. Two days ago it hit me hard, stuffy nose, coughing, I haven't been able to sleep well. I got some medicine from the pharmacy, drank a lot of Theraflu and have been trying to take it easy. Yesterday Jason's coteacher invited the two of us to lunch with him, and then to watch a badmiton match. Various teachers from Sangji middle and high school were compeating in the match. We had a simple enough lunch and the entire time Jason's coteacher was conserned that I wasn't feeling well, or should go to the clinic. I told him I was okay but he wanted to reiterate that if I wasn't well, I didn't have to come to the match. (Even though it would be an "excellent cultural opportunity.")

After learning the match would last no more than an hour I felt confident that I could attend and still be home early enough to laze about. Yesterday was a day of midterms for both schools so everyone got done at noon instead of the usual 4:30pm. The three of us took a taxi to the match, which was at a different school, and settled in to the bleachers to cheer for the Sangji teachers. These were definitely the most intense badmiton matches I have ever seen! Apparently most of the teachers there had been playing on a semi professional level for at least 10 years! The birdies were flying and it was honestly pretty exciting! At one point some teachers called Jason and I down to play with them, and then just handed the court over to the two of us. Everyone went to watch the real match while the two of us attempted to play. We were not very good. We did work up a sweat though and soon after we had pooped out, the matches were done. It was time to leave. Instead of taking a taxi back to the school one of the teachers offered to drive us.

That was our mistake.

As we were nearing Sangji I wondered why the teacher didn't turn down the road we usually take. Instead he passed it. I thought maybe he would turn at the next intersection but he didn't turn their either. That's when I realized who we were in the car with. It was me, Jason, his coteacher Notau and one of the gifted students teachers from my school. The same group (minus one) that had taken us out drinking weeks before, on that fateful night. At that moment I knew we were in for more than just a ride back to school.

There were so many clues! We could hear them refrencing our names in Korean, they asked us if we had any further plans and we said no, I insisted I was okay (I was pretty okay, just stuffy) -- those were our outs! Instead Notau told us we would get a caffe and then have dinner. After dinner he said I could go home and rest since I was sick. He said not to worry because he would watch out for me. Dinner and coffee sounded great to me! I could be home by 5pm and watching TV sipping Theraflu by 5:05!

The caffe that we went to was magnificiant! It was up in the foothills near Mt. Chiak, where we had hiked earlier. All the of the resturants and caffes around it were very ritzy, as was the one we went to. It was built right on the side of the mountain base and had this amazing large wood terrace that we sat out on. The weather was very pleasant, a cool fall day and we could see Wonju before us. Our drinks were great and we had a lively discussion of politics. Well, basically we tried to explain how laws were made in the US but Notau just wanted to keep asking us, "which is better, senator or congressman? Which is better, senator or govener?" We realized its kind of a confusing system to explain!

After that we headed back into the main of Wonju to grab dinner. Again I was reassured by Notau that I could go home after that, no worries. The other teacher we were with doesn't speak English, but he can understand almost perfectly. We drove to his apartment, which is right next to Jason's, and dropped off the car. As soon as he made that move I knew soju was soon to be involved with our night. In Korea it is extremely bad to be caught drunk driving, you are thrown in jail for a year, no question. If you are are foreigner, you are kicked out the of the country immediatly and put on the "black list" never to be allowed in again. I'm not joking. So basically the rule is don't ever, never, drink and drive, you just don't do it.

Even though I was sick, and Notau told the other teacher so, he ordered soju. At first they only gave me the smallest amount, Notau was saying he was a "body guard" and he would watch out for me. He also ordered soda just for Jason and I because he knew we didn't want to drink very much. Jason obliged by having soju, but Notau seemed determined that Jason wouldn't have to drink too much. On the other hand, my teacher didn't care one bit that I was sick or that Jason didn't want to drink. He did turn cup with us both a few times and always filled our shot glasses to the brim! They started saying soju was a cure-all and I would be so much better the next day! (Also that the sashimi would make my skin nice.) Notau started saying that he was the Korean army, we were the US and the other teacher was Iraq and we had to unite against our common against enemy! Thus we started giving him more drinks and filling his cup! It sort of worked.

We escaped dinner with little harm. Suddenly though there was no talk of me being able to go home after the first round due to illness. I think if I'd really played it up I would have been off the hook. But I really was feeling okay except for my nose. I guess Notau and my teacher thought I was okay too since they said I was ready for round two. I don't know if I should be hurt that they didn't care more for my well being or just accept that maybe they did care, but it still didn't matter.

To get back to where I started... We taxied over to another resturant and they told me to get out when they saw a dog on the street. They had been talking about eating dog earlier and we said we did not want to try it. I honestly started freaking out when I saw the dog because I thought that they wanted to go in a dog resturant!! (They eat dog in Korea.) I was pointing at the chained up dog gasping a little going "food...? or pet?" Notau glanced over and was like "oh, that's a pet!" It was only a coincidence the taxi stopped next to the dog, it was chained up outside a market waiting for its owner. Crisis averted!

In the resturant we entered we were the only customers. When we sat down Notau told us we were in for a real treat, a real traditional Korean dish, like nothing we had ever tasted before, something with a really unique flavor. He told us it would feel "like riding a roller coaster." The cooks brought over some sidedishes, pickled hard boiled eggs, a couple different kinds of kimchi and some cooked slices of pork, sam gip sal style. Soon after the main dish arrived: a tray of raw fish, thinly sliced and decoratively arranged around the dish. When we entered the restaurant I noticed its sign, there was a picture of a sting ray on it, I put two and two together, we were eating raw sting ray. Although you will never find a table knife in Korea, table scissors are okay. So to cut the fish and pork into smaller pieces we just used scissors. Even though the pieces were already bite sized, my teacher thought we needed to start with something smaller. I wondered why, we had already had the raw trout and it was good, and this fish was white, it looked light and fluffy. (I couldn't smell much because my nose was stuffy but Jason did tell me there was a strange odor coming from the fish.) My teacher showed us the proper way to eat the sting ray, to take some very aged kimchi, place the fish on top, top that with cooked pork,  garlic, onion and pepper sauce. Then you use your chopsticks to wrap it all up in the kimchi and take a bite. We all got our wraps ready, the teacher did "cheers" to us, food in chopsticks, and we took a bite.

I don't know how to describe what happened next. My entire mouth was swathed in flavor, my tongue felt numb, my sinuses were singing, I was squeeking, my mouth was puckering, my eyes bursting out, shutting tight, rolling back in my head. I looked over at Jason and Notau, they were turning red, our mouths were full. We were chewing somethng slimy, yet hard and stringy. Sting ray is the most "interesting" tasting food I have ever had, hands down. I didn't think I would ever get it swallowed, the bite was so big and the fish was so hard to chew. If it is supposed to be an experience everytime, if you want your taste buds rocked, try some raw sting ray. It was as if time slowed down while I was chewing. My only consilation was looking over at Notau and Jason struggling as well. Our eyes were watering, we were almost gagging. Somehow I managed to swallow. My teacher, on the other hand, just looked pleased, he loves the taste and had little problem eating it. Jason was shrinking into himself, as if he hoped no one would offer him anymore if they only couldn't see him, Notau was sitting in stumper, eyes blank. I was glad to have some soju at this point.

Suddenly my teacher placed more kimchi and sting ray in front of me. He grinned. How could I refuse, the wrap was being made right in front of me, by someone else's hands. I somehow ate another bite. Jason and Notau lucked out and missed this round. Round 3: my teacher made each of them their own wraps, as well as one for me. There was no escaping for the two of them. This time Notau was almost down for the count.  HE was probably the worst sting ray eater out of us. He looked like he was going to pass out. At this point he ran for the bathroom and I'm pretty sure he puked. It was at test of manliness (why was I there?!), of stamina! Notau kept telling Jason "you are man!! Do it!!" even though he was pratically puking on the table himself. My teacher told Natua he was bring him shame by not eating more. I ate between 8-9 peieces of the fish. Jason had a few less. Every time we thought we were safe from having more, my teacher would start another oh so delicious kimchi wrap for me on my plate. I couldn't refuse. At one point we all said no more, and he looked so hurt, we quickly said "okay maybe one more!!" and he smiled big time. My coteacher was fine, enjoying himself. At one point he went to the bathroom, compleatly composed, and Notau quickly told us to spit out what we were eating into our napkins and hide it from the teacher before he got back!

My coteacher, the champion eater, on the left. Camera shy.
Notau with soju and kimchi-sting ray wrap. 

Ummm good.

Skate fish aka sting ray aka honguhhwe in Korean.

The whole spread.

We did an internet search on sting rays this morning and discovered that the smell of rotting or "fermenting" sting ray flesh is that of ammonia, thus why Jason thought it smelled like bleech in the resturant. Additionally, the bowel system on a sting ray works different than on most animals, including humans. When it is killed its bladder releases, but it releases into its entire body, basically lacing its flesh with uric acid.. So we were basically eating rotting sting ray laced with pee. It was like biting into bleech. Or bitting a ant, while it continues to sting you. I thought we were eating sting ray poision or something. Truly no description I come up with can do the taste justice, it was so unique and unlike anything I have ever had. I am really happy to have tried it, I almost want to try it again... in a tortureous kind of way! It was exhillirating, a rush, like riding a roller coaster... (I also read online it can make you feel high because of the rawness, maybe that was it... or the soju?)

It was quite the cultural experience, as Notau liked to point out. And I should give it more credit, I'm trying to be dramatic, not offensive, but to Koreans, it is indeed a delicacy and is very well liked by some (but not all!) It does supposedly cure you of illness too. (You know what, I WAS feeling better the next day... although not totally cured.)

Our night wasn't over yet, we had one more stop, a roof top bar overlooking Wonju for some beer and more food. The view was beautiful and we indeed felt lucky to have such wonderful hosts, and to be able to visit such a wonderful place and not shell out hundreds of dollars such as would be necessary in the OC/LA area. (Although, the total cost for the night was well over 150,000 won (~$150.00!!!) Jason and I saw nachos on the menu and had to have them! Both of our Korean hosts had never had them before.

My champion sting ray eater of a coteacher took one bite of his nacho, almost gagged, downed some beer to wash out the taste and declared they were the "worst food" he had ever eaten! WHAT?!?!