Papa John 's Delivery

It took 1 year and 51 weeks for us to learn enough Korean to dare and phone for pizza delivery! After role-playing a delivery order in our Korean class last Wednesday night we decided to try and order a pizza on the weekend.

I wrote my script all out and dialed the number for Papa John's, 1577-8080 (if you'd like to try yourself). Because I didn't want the operator to think that she was talking to a Korean with a speech (or brain) impediment, I began by saying "I'm sorry, I'm a foreigner," (which is something you do truly have to be sorry for when living in Korea). "Oh, English?" she said, as she immediately switched languages. I'd been looking forward to ordering entirely in Korean, so I continued answering her questions in Korean as she asked them in English. She misunderstood my address, so I gave up and switched to English. 30 minutes later, one of those annoying delivery scooters that threaten our lives daily on the sidewalk finally became useful by bringing a piping hot pizza to our door. Success! Delicious success!

We decided that we'd try Dominos this weekend, but their Korean pizza menu is so unappetizing (think 'Spanish' pizza with sweet potato and pineapple or the 'Chasu Chasu', a pork/broccoli/balsamic vinegar pizza) so we called Papa John's again. Their system remembered our address when our phone number rang through and this time I was able to order our meal without using English at all.

This was good Korean practice for me, but I'd wish I'd known that we could have been ordering pizza by phone in English for the last few years! Although it's probably for the best that my fat ass wasn't aware of this special secret all along...

UPDATE: Mel just successfully ordered a roast chicken from Goobne! The ordering process was a Korean-only affair and such difficult questions as "where do you live?" were no match for my Mel. When she got off the phone, I asked her how it went. Her response? "I NEED A DRINK".

So, I just bought some wine and we're currently making some potatoes, dressing and gravy to go with our meal. This delivery business is awesome!