We have roughly 7 months left here in Korea. Some days I feel like it can’t come soon enough and some days all I can think of are all the great things I will miss about my time in this country.
So here’s a quick list of my highs and lows in no particular order.
I will miss:
Derby. That’s an obvious. These ladies have changed my life for the better. I’m a completely different person than I was a year and a half ago and I am so thankful to them for helping me out of my shell. Finally haha. I hope I get lucky enough to find a group even half as awesome as them at our next duty station.
FOOD. Ok, I’m not a huge kimchi, crazy Korean food lover but there are things I will miss. Korean Frying. OMG. Spicy Bulgogi with rice and some kimbap delivered to my door. Nom nom nom. Also, their pizza. So much better than American pizza. Sweet potato pizza is the shizzle.
Movie Theaters. I love that I can order my tickets online and reserve a seat at the movies so I only have to show up as the movie is about to start. Can you do that in the states? It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a movie. They also serve beer at the theater and lots of yummy flavored popcorn.
Kids Cafes. Seriously. Best invention ever. Get on it America! I love having 2 hours of play time for the kids while I sit and drink coffee with my friends. And the staff chase them around, cuff their too long pants, help them into dress up clothes….and there are tv monitors so you can watch your kids while sitting and sipping your coffee no matter where they run off to. LOVE me some Star Kids.
The People. In general the people here are just nice. Kinda like living in the south…but different. Haha everything in Korea is the almost the same…but different. And they LOVE kids. I can’t imagine many Americans that would scoop up my kids and give them candy and play with them or keep them entertained on a train or in the market. I know I wouldn’t. It’s going to be a change being around a lot of only concerned about themselves Americans again.
A few things that didn’t make the Top 5 but are still things I will miss dearly….heated floors (awesome!), bathroom floor drains, the front compartment on the fridge, Splish and Splash.
I wont miss:
Sink Drains. SO gross. I miss my garbage disposal in the worst way. Our sink here just has this big metal basket that catches all the nasty and smells and has to be emptied and cleaned. Bleck. Worst chore ever.
Spiders. They are huuuuge here! Oh goodness. But this one is still up in the air. While I don’t enjoy the monster spiders here I would gladly take them over the monster centipedes in Hawaii. And they are kinda fun to watch when they make webs on the porch. Just keep them out of my bathrooms.
Shopping. This one can go either way too. SOME shopping (fabric, cute little cheap Daiso things…) I will miss but in general I can’t wait to have options again. I need more American grocery stores than just the commissary. I want a Walmart and Target and Walgreens, and a mall with clothes that fit me. If we want anything ‘American’ at a decent price we need to shop on post. That leaves us a small PX and commissary to choose from. While I’m thankful that we do have those privileges I do miss having options. (spoiled much?!)
The HEAT/COLD. Ok, ok…seems like everything I don’t like about Korea I could get stuck with somewhere else. But geeze it’s hot right now and without central air it sucks. And the air we do have is expensive to run so we use is sparingly. Thankfully we only really turn it up for maybe 1 or 2 months so it all evens out. Also, it’s freakin cold in the winter. I don’t like snow or ice and hopefully we will leave both behind us when we go somewhere else.
The Smell. You never know what it will smell like when you go out. It’s an awesome blend of manure (not sure what kind…), burning, kimchi, and pollution. It’s just Korea. You can’t unsmell Korea.
Just like every other move we’ve done I’m so ready to move on to what’s next but when the time comes will be so sad to leave behind what is here.
Haha…love how you added bathroom drains in your other little list. I remember when you moved there and theu weirded you out. Lol. Now your adventures just need to move to WA. I promise it’s awesome here. 🙂
There was a chick and her mom, here in town, that attempted to try something like Star Kids, but it bombed. It wasn’t obviously financially backed very well. She basically had a room full of toys and another room that was a cafe. I only went there twice with Addision and the next time I drove by it was gone.
And can I just tell you that I LOVE that you said unsmell?! We were sniffing candles the other day and there was one that I told the kids I wish I could unsmell it. It smelled like day after beer bottles that you were too drunk to clean up after a party. It’s a very distinct smell. They were trying to push it off as grapefruit.
That beer bottle smell is NOT ok. I’d want to unsmell it too. And I’m not sure if a Kids Cafe would work without a team of kid loving Korean employees to chase my kids around for me.
The people would be #2 just after the smells on my list of things I hate about Korea.
ha- Megan, every time we smell something horrible now one of the kids says “smells like Korea-fart!” What has been smelled can never be “unsmelled.” <3 this. 🙂
This is awesome! I love the lists!! It’s hard to give up best friends! But being military you may see them all again! <3
Reserved seats in movie theaters is the best!!! The US is JUST getting onto to that… or at least we have 1 theater in Houston that does that. But what I miss about Asia is being able to get rice anywhere… even at fast food restaurants. I also agree with the smell. Though when we lived in Indonesia, it was the smell of Durian that I hated most!
Ya know, after I posted this another good friend of mine in Houston said there was one there. I obviously haven’t been living in the right places!
This was so interesting, America definitely needs to step it up with those kids cafes! How awesome! Korea sounds pretty amazing minus the smell and sink drains…and big spiders!