much ado over fruit

I think that I have mentioned T.Y. in the past. He is the agent that Ken's company uses. Agents are helpful in foreign countries because they help set up apartments, custom clearance, etc. T.Y. (I usually don't like to use people's names in the blog that I don't know well but since we just use his initials I think it is hopefully okay) is very nice. He arranges transportation to and from the airport. He has arranged and played golf with Ken numerous times and we have also gone out to eat in Busan with his wife and partner (getting out of Okpo for the weekend Feb. 26, 2007). It was he that greeted me with a gorgeous bouquet of flowers at the airport when I first arrived (here we are Jan, 12, 2007).

Anyway, a couple of days after we returned this time, the doorbell rang and it was the driver that had patiently brought us home from the airport with a wonderful basket of fruit. I have been wanting to comment more on the food here and I guess this is a great time to talk about the fresh fruit. First and foremost, like most everything else here, it is not inexpensive. They have the usual oranges, bananas, and apples. You can sometimes find lemons but I haven't seen limes yet. They do have kiwi and pineapple. I have seen and eaten cantaloupe but haven't purchased due to the price. This past weekend, Ken and I paid $8.00 for half of a SMALL watermelon...luckily it was wonderful. I have had Asian pears in the U.S. and love them. I was hoping that they would be plentiful and cheap here. Plentiful yes, cheap no. If you haven't had one, buy one and try it. To me, it is a cross between a crisp apple and a pear. I personally love them and eat them at every buffet we go to. It just hit me that I haven't seen strawberries at the grocery store but I have eaten them numerous times at dinners....I will have to let you know more on that. I have noticed lately that purple/black grapes are plentiful at the grocery stores right now. The basket had some in it and they were absolutely wonderful. By the way, the fruit on the right is an Asian pear.


The only thing I wasn't sure of was this....
I noticed at Tesco they were also labeled yellow melon. They were okay but kind of tasteless. They probably have another name that I don't know. The fruit on the right is a peach. It is larger and whiter than the peaches back home.

Back to the original storyline...! I sent a thank you note to T.Y. for the fruit.

Today Ken received an email as follows:
Ken,
I was impressed much by your kind letter today and could not imagine you gave me such a letter because it was beyond our normal customs. By the way, I'm very happy to have such a letter from a man who support me all the time.
Thanks and Regards,
T.Y.

To which Ken responded:
T.Y.,
The thanks goes to my wife, Kim. She wrote the card because she enjoyed the fruit very much and wanted to show her gratitude.
Regards,
Ken

To which T.Y. responded:
Ken,
That is more honourble for me. Please tell my pleasure to Mrs. Kim Adcock.
Thanks and Regards,
T.Y.

I love being in a country where a fruit basket and a thank you note have such importance.