Banchan gone wild and lots of traffic

First off, a note:
-I hate the romanization of Korean words. I am not very good at it; our first meeting in Korean the friends threatened us if we even looked at romanized words there would be serious consequences! So forgive the wildly irregular spelling of Korean words. It is what it is.
Ok, that's off my chest. Let's begin.
So Saturday is very overcast as we set out in Samjoon's car. (Maybe no hyphens, per Joe's suggestion.) We pick up his wife and son, and head over to see Joe's grandmother's mausoleum. It is sad, but everyone is ok. We then head to the grave of my mom-in-law's younger brother, which is in a very beautiful setting out of town on a hillside. Won't it be wonderful when these beautiful places are not filled with sadness?
After that we drive, oh, I don't know, all over the place. Traffic is crazy, as I was warned about before we came. People drive with abandon, and the cars dart in and out of lanes at will. I sit in the back seat and concentrate on the conversation.
I am trying to pick up what the discussion is about. Listening so hard it hurts. Some is understood, some my mom-in-law translates. I use my few phrases to try and chime in. Joe, on the other hand, is sitting in the front seat holding on for dear life. :)
At first we were intimidated trying to use our language skills. People automatically use English when they see us. (If they know it.) So we try to answer them in Korean. Now we have gotten more comfortable, and everyone responds well to our efforts. It is so fun!
We tool around for awhile, and then make our way to lunch. The restaurant specializes in cholodoh hanshik (traditional Korean meals). We sit down at a long table, and I am wondering why until they start bringing the food.
Banchan means 'side dish' and Koreans love them. Little sides of kimchee, seaweed, noodles, tofu, kimchee pancakes, all sorts of things to eat along with the main dish. I have had my share, usually we have 5 or 6, but this? Was insane. See below:

The banchan army

They filled the table with them! Along with 6 whole cooked fish. (True story: as a child I was seriously scared to eat fish because I thought I would choke to death on a bone. Yeah, my food issues go way back.) So I dig in to all the banchan and am successfully avoiding the fish when Samjoon motions to me to take a fish. ('But the fish, the fish is smiling at me!' hee!) So I smile and nod and wonder how I am gonna get out of this. He apparently sees I am not making a move so he removes the head and takes the skin and bones out for me. Thank you! So I eat the fish. (Small bites, making sure no bones...)
After stuffing ourselves we get back in the car and drive some more. We go through a National Arboretum and it is lush and so pretty. It is raining but still nice. Everything is so green.
We go to a yogurt/coffee shop (with a great name, see below!), and meet a couple from Joe's aunt's congregation. They are very nice and we have some conversation, but goodness we don't understand much. We try to catch what we can then have to get mom to fill us in every so often.

Best restaurant name so far!

We are heading back to the hotel in awful traffic and rain, it is about 3:30, when, like narcoleptics, the sleepiness hits Joe and I. We must, at this moment, go to sleep. No choice. So we are rocked to sleep by the motion of the car careening in and out of lanes.
Still full from the lunch of a thousand dishes (seriously, they must wash so many dishes a day in these restaurants!) the three of us relax in the hotel in the evening and have some nice conversation. We discuss family, and memories, as we look out over the Seoul skyline. The day called for some reflection.
And tomorrow we hope for some sun. And to take the subway.