Cindy Williamson

As you know, my brother, Ricky Williamson, better known as Tick, accepted a position as an English

teacher in Daejeon, South Korea. He has been there for about a month and really is enjoying his time there.

From what he has told me, he is teaching 8- to 16-year-old kids who are very shy and very afraid of him. This isn't because he is mean and grumpy. It is simply because he is huge compared to them and he has red hair (kind of like the devil, I guess). His students are very serious about education and they attend school from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m.

I will confess at first I was worried about him being so far from home, but I came to realize he will do fine. I receive e-mails from him several times a week and have found he, like me, could fit in anywhere.

He also has decided my column needs kicked up a bit and has provided me with an additional section that he has named "The Korean Update" by Ricky S. Williamson. Against my better judgement, I have decided to include his section to my column. If all goes well and you decide you enjoy reading about what is going on over on the other side of the earth, I will continue to include it. That is, of course, whenever he takes the time to write it. No promises!

"The Korean Update" by Ricky S. Williamson

Well, I have got to tell you all about the cuisine over here. Now, I'm not one to be picky, and I sure don't have a taste for delicate dishes. As a matter of fact, during one of my college years, I went a whole year eating nothing but hot dogs, and I didn't mind that a bit. However, that's not the case here.

The food is pretty good. Fortunately, I like things spicy, and these folks love hot peppers. I don't know how to spell it, but they call it kochu, and it's a bad mamma jamma. I just now, at this very moment, ate a bowl of spicy chicken and rice. Mmmm, it was good.

They have some beef. They call it bugolgi, but mostly they eat a lot of fish over here. I have yet to find anything that tastes like catfish, but it's still good. There are a lot of good things to eat over here. It's too bad I'm allergic to shellfish because they have a lot of that here and it's cheap. You can get a big

plate of it for $5. Daggone allergies!

Although they have a lot of really good food over here, every once in a while, I want some good old West Virginia home cooking, and I have been all over the place looking for pinto beans and corn meal, but it's nowhere to be found. I would settle for some self-rising flour to make some biscuits and gravy. But, nope, they don't have that either.

They do have hot dogs. They have the sausages. They have the buns. They even make a corn dog out of rice meal. But I have been all over creation looking for some chili. Now, Lord mercy goodness, you don't know what a hot dog is without chili. I would settle for the bean kind. I guess I'm going to have to ground up some of bulgogi and make my own.

Well, until next time, catch you later, Boone County.

Leave it to Tick to debut his first article based on food (it's a very important subject in his life). Be sure to let me know what you think about "The Korean Update" by Ricky S. Williamson" by e-mailing me at cmwilliamson@coalvalleynews.com.

Have a great week!