Team Ubuntu bids Rabbi Paul adieu and eats a lot of Korean BBQ

After six years of dedicated service to the children of South Africa, Rabbi Paul is saying farewell to Ubuntu. If I have any say in the matter, he will pursue a career in televangelism, make obscene amounts of money and dedicate the rest of his life to Ubuntu – but for free! No, actually, he’ll PAY.

To properly send him off, Jake and Lara (with a healthy dose of subterfuge, courtesy of Sus) planned a surprise goodbye party for Rabbi Paul at Woo Chon in Koreatown. While we waited for Sus to deliver the “package”, we got started with a couple of Hite beers. After a whole night of them, this is where I felt like I was. Doesn’t it look grand?!

Upon the honoree’s arrival and the yelling of “surprise!”, we all sat down so the amazing feast could begin. First, they brought out little dishes of kimchi and all of the other little deliciousnesses they serve you at Korean restaurants, which I just learned are called banchan. My favorites were the octopus and drunken crab type thingies. I was making some amazing combo-bites with the octopus and something else, but I don’t remember what it was. Whatever it was, it had a great texture. It was probably some sort of sliced up radish dish.

Next, our waitress brought out some yummy Sae Woo Bojm, which are steamed shrimp dumplings wrapped in lettuce. They looked just like adorable brussels sprouts! After that, it was time to get really serious, so we started the table-grilling portion of the evening. We began with a huge plate of what I believe was Wang Galbi (prime rib filleted off the bone – king sized!). We grilled it up, flipping it with our chopsticks (just like YL does when making bacon) until it was ready to be eaten. Most of us like our beef on the rare side, so it was ready pretty quickly. I took my first piece and wrapped it in a leaf of romaine with a bit of tasty red bean paste. It was mouthwateringly delicious! Soon, to aid in my consumption of savory galbi, I abandoned the whole lettuce leaf idea entirely. Jake remarked that he was on the wrong half of the table with me, Rabbi Paul and Sus, because of our take no prisoners attitude toward eating. We were ruthless and probably ate twice as much as the other half of the table. The prime rib was followed by Dak Gui (sliced chicken breast) and a vegetarian friendly bibimbop. Jake was feeling orderer’s remorse over the former. While I thought the chicken was really tasty, I probably would not order it again. Instead, I would opt for the triple layer pork, provided all of my dining companions were ok with that program.

Then came the piece de resistance – Teak Galbi, which is parenthetically noted on the menu as being PREMIUM. This delectable galbi is thick cuts of Black Angus rib. Feast your eyes on this picture of it sizzling on our table:


Here’s a picture of Newell gnawing (phrase coined by Dr. Lief):


And here is one of me gnawing on the same bone (Gross? Sure. Amazingly delicious? Absolutely.):


After speeches, toasts and an inordinate amount of beer and sake, Newell was presented with this wonderful gift (it’s a picture of the cutest little girl ever):


Here’s a great picture of Lara and the rabbi:


Then we had fruit and some more beer and sake. At the end of the night, everything pretty much looked like this:


Well Paulie, mazel tov! Your next group of co-workers will be some of the luckiest people in the entire workforce! But then again, I have never actually worked with you, so what do I know?

I do know this. Once I was eating breakfast at Everest Diner with Newell and he gave me his last piece of bacon. For no apparent reason, other than he knew that I probably wanted it, as I love bacon more than just about anything. To me, that is really the spirit of ubuntu, and Paul’s got so much of it. Thank you and catch you later on down the trail, albeit a short one (Remember P? I called you three times today to ask you silly questions! Oh, and we don’t even work together now.).