The burger

He walks out to the subway station looking for his friends. It’s cold that February evening and he hopes that he won’t have to wait long for them. They are going to go eat a Burger. It is not easy to come by a decent burger in Korea. One has to scour the city searching for something outside the sickening fast-food restaurants he feels so guilty his country has exported. As he waits for his friends he thinks about how the students he teaches are much fatter than Koreans his own age. Couldn’t America have given the world something greater than the “Golden Arches” and early cardiac health issues?
His tall charismatic Canadian friend walks toward him with the smile that every Korean loves. Surely the jealousy of his friend is unwarranted and stems from previous relationships and not from anything his friend has done. The Canadian shakes his hand in that North American way with a “Hey how’s it going?” that is a comforting bit home.
Shortly thereafter the other friend arrives. The Scotsman, who both had had a hilariously difficult time understanding at first, arrives and the trip to the Burger joint is under way.
“How’s school going” the Canadian asks the Scotsman, expecting something on the negative side. The Scotsman isn’t naturally a pessimist but it seems he got the short end of the stick when he was given a school to teach at. Both the American and the Canadian sort of feel bad for his situation at times. Compounding that he is a new teacher and sometimes isn’t confident of his skills can lead to some hard times.
“I have a date with one of the workers at the school” states the Scotsman. A short while before the Scotsman stated he was interested in a lady with whom he worked. Both C and A encouraged him as he had the boyish good looks that many Koreans find so adorable. This little bit of positivism coming from S caused some ribbing from the others.
From there the conversation turns back to A. “How are you and SY” asks C. “I dun no… it can be really frustrating at times. I haven’t really spoken with her in about a week. I think I am just going to stop talking to her. I think she is just leading me on. Her parents don’t like the idea of her with a Miguk” replies A, disparaging himself as a foreign American in the Korean language.
C ever conscious of the mood and feelings of the others changes the subject to the burgers that they were all anxious to eat. “I’m going to get the Mega-burger” says C in a tone of childish joy.
“I don’t know how this fits into your diet C” states A, still a little depressed about the previous conversation.