Did you hear the one…

…about the German and the 200 Koreans?

They all went camping together.

So, every Memorial Day weekend the members of the Korean branch (church congregration) that my mom attends go camping. They’re done it every year for over 15 years. Growing up it was pretty much a given that our Memorial Day weekend was going to be spent in the middle of the woods with Korean food simmering over the campfires (even if my sulky teenaged self was not at all interested in being there). Looking back on it now, there were some good times. One year I entertained myself by trying to convince the younger kids that I had a twin sister (named Hope, naturally); another year (I think I was 14) I spent most of the time clumsily flirting with the only boy my age there; and yet another year my sister got engaged to her now husband of 10+ years. So yeah, good times.

Anyway, my mom is a great Korean cook. And she REALLY likes sharing her food with other people. Since they live by the water, she will go dig her legal limit of clams for days leading up to the campout so she’ll have buckets of clams ready to make her special soup when the camp-out arrives. Last week she was digging clams when a “VERY nice looking young man” (her words) came up to her and asked her what she was doing. She explained how you dig clams and he asked her what she was going to use them for. She explained all about her special soup and the Korean campout. It turned out that the guy, whose name was Oliver, was from Germany and on a month-long tour of the States. Anyway, Oliver was intrigued by my mom’s description of Korean food, which he had never tried, and about the church campout.

Long story short, my mom invited him to tag along with her and my brother to the campout and Oliver accepted. He thought that hanging out in the wilderness with 200 Koreans sounded like fun. What a brave guy!