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Chat n Fat

I would love to take credit for that title but alas, it was not me but a lovely lady friend I have met here named E, who has done more interesting jobs in her 59 years then you could imagine. What's worse? She doesn't look a day over 40.

Chat n Fat was invented to describe a foreigner girls night we started a few months ago. It began when a group of us decided we were sick of drinking watery beer and soju (read: cheap vodka) and wanted a bit of a more 'civilised' night...(although, after looking at many of the pictures, I can't say that the whole evening turned out THAT civilised)

What we were after, dear friends, was WINE AND CHEESE. Here in Gimhae, and Korea for that matter, cheese is hard to come by and very expensive.

And although it may seem odd to have a dinner party and then charge people at the door, this is the way we do it here.

I was privelaged enough to host the second event, and was so glad to be able to HOST after spending 6 weeks as a hobalong.

So for about 6 bucks Canadian a head, we had about 10 different cheeses, bread and crackers. Grab yourself a bottle of wine and you have a night in.

What struck me most at the first one was how wonderful it felt to only be women in the room. There's nothing wrong with men and I'm happy to socialise with them most nights but the older I get, the more I seem to cherish time spent amongst the estrogen holders.

I'm not sure if it's that we feel we can be more open or just more silly but there is just...something...different.

There is also something about the social life here, just a sense of willingness to be around each other, that I'm not sure I will experience anywhere else I live. I've said this before, but as foreigners we are all isolated together. And that one thing in common makes all the other things that we don't have in common not really matter as much.

When we got back from holiday, I wrote an email on the Tuesday before I wanted to have the party on the Saturday to invite all the 'waegook' women. On Saturday, 14 ladies showed up.

I can't imagine anywhere I've lived, especially the Crack-berry-obsessed-give-me-a-month's-notice-Toronto world, being able to initiate an idea on a Tuesday and have everyone I emailed show up on the Saturday. Two girls even found out on FRIDAY. AND EVEN BROUGHT THEIR OWN CHEESE! (kudos, ladies. that German stuff was divine).

I guess out of all the amazing foriegn things I'm experiencing, I'm also exposed to a different kind of life among Western people like me.

And as much as I'm beginning to realise all the things I will miss about Korea when I leave, I'm also aware how much I'll miss the waegook interaction, especially the kind who understands WHY it's a Chat n Fat and STILL DON'T CARE.

****

Note: I hope to have some pics from the party put up soon...

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