I'm coming home in less than a week! I only have 3 work days remaining! Three days of teaching English to Korean kids! I am so excited to go home. In my down time in class I've made 4 lists that I wanted to share: things I will miss, things I won't miss, random weird things that I've failed to mention, and things I'm looking forward to at home. I will try to exclude food in these lists because then I'd be typing for days.
Things I will miss:
- Random kids and adults saying "hello!" on the street. They're always so excited to speak English and when you say "hello" back it makes their day. One day I was walking down the street and there were a few teenage boys grouped together whispering as they looked at me and one of them finally had the guts to say, "What's up?" When I responded "What up!" and gave him a high five they made me feel like a celebrity because they were so excited.
- Family style dining. I didn't mention any specific food so it's okay.
- Events every weekend that all your friends know about because they were all invited via facebook. On the side of my facebook I usually have 6 upcoming events I'm invited to. Then I talk to my friends and it's, "are you going to the [insert location here] party?" There is quite a lot of social activity that I'll miss.
- Noraebang. These are the private singing rooms that come with a few microphones and tambourines and it's a BLAST. It's nothing like what we know as karaoke in the States which is usually awful.
- Knowing tons of people. I'm not popular, it's just that everyone knows each other. It's just the way it is with the foreigner crowd- we stick together.
- Having the option to stay out all night. I rarely last past 2am and don't care for bars very much but it's nice to be able to stay out until 4 or 5 if I want to.
- Cheap taxis. They may be insane drivers swerving everywhere but a half-hour cab ride rarely costs more than $8.
- Having a steady job and apartment. That's pretty self-explanatory.
- Cute kids in Kindergarten. They drive me nuts but sometimes they can be really sweet and adorable.
- My super fun friends. I have a few girlfriends here that are just SO fun. They're nice, smart, funny and we have a ball together. I love that we have events and theme nights. I'm so happy I got to know them and I'll miss the crap out of them.
- Joking about "the old country." Sighing and saying, "ah, the old country" just makes me smile. Also giving ourselves airs about seeing "foreign films."
- Talking about people near you knowing they can't understand what the hell you're saying. Russell and I would do this all the time and one of us would usually say, "we can't do this at home." It's fun to say, "what is she wearing?!" and "thanks for cutting me off, jerk" openly next to the culprit with the satisfaction of knowing they have no clue you're talking about them.
- Not tipping ever. Getting back in the groove of tipping is going to be a rough adjustment.
- Funny mistranslated signs and t-shirts. When I read things like, "It makes you have super happy fun time!" or worse, it makes me giggle.
- Being able to afford everything I want to do or buy. I don't need a lot and it's cheap here.
- Students telling me I'm beautiful and/or giving me things. If I wear makeup or change my hair they say nice things. I love getting candy and little gifts from my students! Sometimes they can really boost you up, those kids.
- The heating system. In my apartment and most places the heating is through the floor so your feet are always nice and toasty!
Things I won't miss:
- The men spitting on the street. Spitting is gross and they're always hocking huge loogies as they walk by. UGH- so gross!
- People running into me, hitting me with shopping carts or just standing WAY too close. They have little concept of personal space and worse, they are completely unaware of other people. That's why they hit me with their damn carts. They don't watch where they're going and they have no clue when other people are near them. It's REALLY annoying.
- Being stared at. Most of the time I can just ignore it but I have days when I either stare back with my evil eyes or I just fume internally shouting, "STOP FRICKIN STARING AT ME!"
- Co-workers and students speaking Korean and then you hear your name. Being talked about in another language when you're in earshot- is anything more irksome?
- Being a fatty. Living here is not a healthy lifestyle and I can't help to compare myself to thin Korean girls. I have no idea how they do it.
- THE WHINING. Koreans LOVE to whine. Especially the girls because they think it's adorable. I really don't understand the appeal of Korean women mainly for this reason.
- Unnecessary office hours. Part of the culture here is you're not supposed to leave work until your boss leaves. So even when classes and planning are done, you have to sit there, pointlessly. It's so damn stupid I can't stand it.
- Having to talk to my boss through a translator. You'd think that someone who owns an English school would know how to speak it but you'd be dead wrong. Most haegwon (private language school) owners don't speak English beyond a few words.
- Being scared to go to the doctor/post office or other office where you know you need some Korean but you have none. I tried to go to the doctor today, as a matter of fact. I just have a cold but I want to be well for my flight so I wanted to be examined and get some meds. I went to where I thought someone told me a doctor was and accidently found myself in the office of a doctor for oriental medicine. It was the only place I knew so I stuck it out. After miming my symptoms and coughing for him he told me I could get acupuncture or he could just give me some medicine. Yay! Medicine! Oriental weird medicine. He had me talk to his daughter on the phone because she spoke excellent English and I walked out with 6 packages of a weird drink. I'm supposed to drink 3 packets a day after each meal. We'll see how this works out. I certainly wasn't about to have acupuncture. I'm all for new experiences but I wasn't in the mood for experimenting. I want to be home where I can speak English to a freakin normal doctor.
- Bratty kids. Sometimes I just want to smack them.
- Forced conversation with boring foreigners who happen to be in the same situation as me. All we have in common is Korea and I don't care what cute thing one of your students said today.
- Being expected to go out and drink every weekend, at least. I don't really like bars or drinking that much but that's just part of the life here.
- Not being able to look up movie times unless I'm physically at the theater. Everything online is in Korean and if I want to see a movie I have to go to the theater and hope there's something I want to see around that time.
- Not having to put "uh" at the end of words to be understood. No more of that-uh!
- The confused/surprised noise children make if you change ONE THING. If my hair is up and I take it down in class they all gasp and make the noise and are shocked, SHOCKED that something has changed. It drives me nuts.
- Lack of elevator and line etiquette. When they wait for an elevator to come they stand directly in front of it. The people on the elevator have to fight their way through to get off. They never wait to the side. They also cut in lines a lot.
- Sitting on the floor to eat. I never got used to it. Something always falls asleep and my knees hurt. Then when I'm full I make the old person noise of getting off the floor- "uuuugggghhhhhh!"
- Couplewear. Men and women walking down the street often wear matching t-shirts, pants, sweatshirts, and/or shoes. Couples like to match. I can't imagine ever wanting to do that with my boyfriend except maybe if it was on Halloween.
- Taxi drivers watching TV. All cabs have TVs in them right in the center on top of the dashboard. It's shocking at first but later you barely notice it.
- Men with purses. One night while sitting outside a convenience store we played a drinking game with our beers and when you had to drink was when you saw a man with a purse. There were many drinks.
- Same-sex hand holding. These are not gay couples. They are friends, men and women, of the same sex, holding hands. If one of my girlfriends tried to hold my hand while walking down the street it would make me extremely uncomfortable.
- Soju juice boxes. This is the Korean booze of choice in a small juice box complete with straw.
- DISNEYLAND!!!!
- Taking a break from work. The last break I had was in July and I just can't wait to relax and be lazy.
- Thanksgiving, my birthday and Christmas at home because I love those holidays with my family.
- A fire in the fireplace.
- Watching old movies with my mom. We both love them. Last time I was home we watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes!
- Walking my doggies. I love taking them out and they love it too.
- Sleeping with my kitty. He loves sleeping with people and I love having him chilling with me.
- Laundry out of the dryer. For a year everything has been dried on a rack. Warm laundry is going to feel so luxurious!
- Jacuzzi time. Talk about luxurious!
- Running on the beach. I haven't run for awhile but I love running at home so I think I'll get back into it.
- Playing my music in the background at family dinners. We all love it.
- Trips to Costco. I love going with Mom or Dad to Costco cause they always buy me little gifties :)
- Shopping with Tracy. She's my favorite shopping partner and I actually have a little money so she'll pick out some great stuff for me.
- My old jewelry. They're like old friends and they always remind me of my grandmother's awesome taste in gems.
- Getting my hair done. I can't wait to be a beautiful blonde again!
- Pedicures with Tracy. Really a lot of sister beautifying activities.
- Baking. I love to bake and I haven't had access to an oven for a whole year! Russell and I made a pie and brownies in his toaster oven but it wasn't the same.
- Seeing the sunset on the ocean from my house.
- English TV. I watch stuff on my computer all the time but being able to flip through the channels sounds like fun.
There's really a million things I'm looking forward to but obviously the biggest is being with my family. I miss them so much and I thought about them every day. My parents, my siblings, my cousins and my aunts and uncles are all really interesting, fun people and I can't wait to be with them again! I love you all so much and I'll see you soon!
Love,
Kube
