so I don't forget

Memorial day weekend 2006
by Kris Pak

Well, the Philly weekend happened.There ended up being about a dozen of us in the city of Brotherly Love. Someyou know from this list, some not.I got there on Saturday evening to Laura telling me that they were at anIrish pub. By the time I got to the bar (after a detour to a Korean- runshoe repair shop in the Gallery Mall where I got a 30% discount for beingKorean) I found all these Koreans leaving a chi-chi lounge to go get gelato.That was the group of adoptees. There were a LOT of people at that point.Friends had told friends so in addition to Laura, Kelly, and me there wasnon-adopted Koreans and their friends and Lee-Ann from Also-Known-As andanother newer member from K@W all eating Italian ice cream.Then we went back to our hotel to freshen up and take advantage of theirhappy hour. There was a lacrosse tournament in Philly this weekend so thehotel was full of lacrosse teams and their families. In the elevator, a guyasked if that's why we were there. Besides being a little old for NCAAathletics, I thought to myself, "nope, I'm not THAT white [to play or knowanyone who plays lacrosse]"Then we went to a Korean restaurant for barbecue and haemul guk withddukokki and jeon. It was a cute ma-and-pop place, far different than NYC'sKTowns in Manhattan or Flushing. Maybe because it was a pojangmatcha therewas hardly any panchan? But, there were huge pitchers of beer. John met usthere. Then most of us went to a noraebang. Some left at that point though.Some more kyopos joined us to keep our number at about 15.That was fun, watching a lot of first timers find their hidden rockstar-selves and also drink about 3 dozen beers, 2 bottle of soju and abottle and half of whiskey.Then homeward. I crashed with Laura and met her family.We roused ourselves by 11 to go to meet the remaining folks for dim sum.Since Laura and I had gotten stuck in traffic we got there after everyonewas stuffed, but nearly 40 dishes testified that we ad missed a good time.Kelly stopped for a bubble tea then we split up to explore Philly a bit. Wesaw the Bell. We also went to major tourist attractions (j/k) of Cosi andCVS.Then back to the hotel and to dinner at a Cuban joint. I had to leave earlyto catch the bus home but someone else can fill you in on the mini-mini inPhilly from that point. Some are still there, visiting until Wednesday orb/c they live there.www.koreandrum.org