Teacher's workshop farewell lunch

Yesterday was my last workshop.
Those lucky teachers who were smart enough to put their names down to present their speeches yesterday got out of it, because they were taking me out to lunch!
They didn't tell me until the last minute, of course, but that was fine, because I had left my planning fo the last workshop to the last minute as well.
Jeongim picked me up, well, met me, and then we got a ride the rest of the way with Girun.
On the way, they asked me "Have you ever been to Dogapsa?" I said yeah, only because it sounded familiar, but I corrected myself when we finally got there, and I realized that I had never ever been there before.
They were, of course, surprised, because it was "so beautiful".
They asked me if I had ever had ginseng before, and I of course said yes, and this time I knew I was right. Unfortunately, I don't really like ginseng.
I lied, and said that I thought that it was pretty good, because they were taking me out for lunch to thank me, and I was gonig to eat whatever they passed my way and I was going to enjoy it!
They told me that our lunch would be a lot like ginseng, but it was better for us. Another root, all natural, and picked in the mountains. I took that to mean that it would definitely taste worse.
Well, we settled into this little restaurant, with tables and chairs, surprisingly, and the lunch got off to a rocky start. Jinie was text messaging on her cell phone, Gongju was just staring into space, Gilun was apologizing for not trying harder, and Myeongsook was too far away for me to talk to. Then they all started speaking in Korean, so that sucked.
But then finally, I started getting in on the conversation by catching words and then saying "What was that about Samho school? That's where Jessie teaches." and such. The old ajumma brought out the food, and it looked grim.
It was sliced root, on a barbecue grill, with a thin red paste, and lots of sesame seeds. I was immediately warned that it would be too hot for me, because I am a foreigner, and not having eaten with me before, they jst assumed that everything would be too hot.
It was, in fact, delicious. I never imagined that eating roots could be so nice. They were all amazed with my chopstick prowess, and insisted on taking pictures of me with them.
We talked a lot about Korea, and about Canada, and about hwy I was leaving, and about their classes. Especially Myeongsook, she teaches at the technical high school where all of my worst students tend to wind up going. I can't imagine, I would quit and become a hermit.
When we had finished eating, we headed out to the lobby for an after dinner coffee. After waiting for about 20 minutes or so, we realized that there would be no coffee, so we went out to the little restaurant area outside, and got coffee from a vending machine.
After lunch, we were going to walk up to the temple, but because of the typhoon, we were told that it was off limits. Oh yeah, I was also told that the horrible rain we had was in fact a typhoon, which I guess explains a lot.
We stood around for a and finally wound up taking a little boardwalk along the river for a short walk and chat. I was given a lot of typhoon safety advice, which was helpful. This included "Close your windows" and "Hold on to Jessie very tightly".
It turned out to be a really good afternoon. I had a good time with them, and I really hope that I can remain in touch with them.

That's all about that.