Missing the Following:

Its been ages now since I last stepped foot on Korean soil. Do I miss it? Yes. Very much. Am I glad to be home- of course. But still. To think, this time last year, I was enjoying Chusok, Soju, and the beauty of Korean autumn. I miss the following in no particular order:

1. I miss being a teacher! I miss going on dorky field trips with my preschoolers.

2. I miss this guy! Convenience Store Guy never spoke much more than a lick of English but was always friendly as hell and a bright, friendly part of my day.

3. Mingi. This kid was so frickin' cute and soooo unruly and misbehaving. Gotta love a spoiled 4 year old Korean child constantly keeping you busy.

4. Wild nights as the Soju Monster and good company. Damn, I know the terrible quality Korean booze downright ruined my stomach but still, where else can you get a bottle of booze that will get you wasted and almost hallucinating for only $1,000 Won ( about $1)????

5. Weekend trips! What a blast, even if it was cold and rainy and I bitched the whole time, I was still having fun. Trust me on this:)

6. The busy streets of Meungdong. Trips to Seoul came either one of two ways. Either ride for 45 minutes on a nauseating, over-crowded bus or ride for an hour and a half on an over-crowded, stuffy subway. I always chose the subway, or else I would feel like vomiting the rest of the day. Meungdong was always the ultimate fashion and shopping mecca for young Koreans.

7. Walks along the river on the little path to my house. I miss my old neighborhood, with all of its random call-girl cards strewn about, PC Bangs, and junk convenience stores. Oh, and I miss cans of Gatorade. Soo delicious!

8. Cute stuff galore!!!! Everywhere I went, cute and bizarre things would steal my heart and practically rip my eyeballs out of thier sockets. Everything and everyone was just so dang adorable, I felt as if I might burst.

9. Mondu. Of fuck, do I ever miss mondu!!!!!!! The ultimate warm your belly food. Those soft little dumpings are what dreams are made of. And cheap, cheap, cheap.

10. Korean BBQ and drunken, misbehaving coworkers. Lindsay's face is priceless and Aram, we always loved your misbehaving, abnoxious ways, even if we pretended we didn't. And my God, Korean BBQ is just sooo frickin' amazing. Best food ever.

Sometimes, I hear a little voice that tells me that I am ready for more travel and adventure. Day in and day out, I work here. We try to spice things up by getting a dog, getting a new car, new shoes, whatever but it still seems dull in comparison to my life this time one year ago. Then again, I remember many weekends never even leaving my apartment apart from getting a bite to eat. I remember being incredibly alone in one of the most densely populated countries in the world. But to me, the past is best romanticised and played up a bit.

Sara's Top Moments in Korea

Thought I would get a little bit nostalgic and rehash some of my best Korea memories:)
Note: Some photos were stolen from Lindsay's blog..... With love!!!

Food in Korea

Is anyone hungry? Will took some wonderful photos of the food while here in Korea.

Sushi from my favorite Suji sushi restaurant. Only $8 for this whole plate of sushi!!!

Soup and rice from the mondu place.

Mondu from the mondu restaurant on the strip. Yum!

Galbi from the cheap place:) My favorite!

Sunday is Cleaning Day!

Today has been all about cleaning and making my apartment perfect! After waking up soo early today, I decided today would be the day to get things done. I cursed at the stupid washing machine all morning long, as all it would do is beep at me! Thank goodness for Katie, who lives right across the street- she was nice enough to come over and show me how it worked. Quite simple really once you know which button to push:) I washed all of my rugs and the new one must not have been that great of quality, because it literally turned into a mess of pink fuzz in the wash!

I explored some of the not so nice neighborhoods for cheap apartment stuff and found a discount home furnishings store kind of like Daiso- but also carries higher priced items such as blankets and electronics. I was on the search for an alarm clock. Apparently most Koreans like the old fashioned kind with the bells on the top! I ended up settling for one of the few digital alarm clocks I could find at Lotte Mart. Now if I can actually sleep well tonight, I will have something to wake me up for my first day of teaching at Poly School!!!

I scrubbed the apartment from head to toe today, which was not very fun but needed to be done. The kitchen sink and stove are now sparkling and I scrubbed the mold off of the wall in the laundry room. I also got on my hands and knees and scrubbed and wiped all of the floors so they would be perfect. It seems the swiffer I got never gets all of the dirt and it drives me nuts! Everyone takes their shoes off as you enter the house and the floors still seem to get sooo dirty! I am looking forward to winter in a way- the floors are heated and I bet that has to feel amazing on your feet!

After all the scrubbing was done, I went back downtown and got some Korean Dumplings. I think the lady at the dumpling place knows me now- today she taught me the Korean word for my new favorite food- Mandu. Mandu is minced pork with chopped veggies wrapped in a thin piece of dough and then steamed. How delicious!!! They are very gentle to the stomach so I have been eating them quite often. I have also been living off of: Gatorade, Diet Coke, Orange Juice, Pringles, and these little Korean cookies that have creamy chocolate in the center. Yum! Don't worry, to counteract all of the horrid eating habits, I am walking everywhere! And I like walking here, as my path to downtown is right next to the river. How relaxing to hear the trickle of the stream, have dragon flies buzz over the trail, and feel the tall grass tickle my legs. Sigh!

In my search to find an extra blanket, I have been pretty surprised on the lack of selection in the bedding department here. There are lots of bedding stores but they all have the same things- thin quilts in horrid feeling polyesters and terrible floral patterns. And how overpriced they are!!! Most of these aweful blankets are $40 to $140!!!!! Koreans don't know the comfort of a nice snuggly microplush blanket and so I don't get that comfort either. Darn it!

I am learning a few key Korean words now such as "Thank you" and "Hello". Going to the store is sometimes difficult because Koreans like to be helpful and often end up puzzled and esasperated in their efforts. I will try to learn some new words everyday but I know the process of learning a new language definitely does not come overnight.

I looked at pets today at Lotte Mart and they have some weird ones that we don't have in the U.S. such as hedgehogs and larve you can grow in to your very own beatle! They are sooo gross! The larve are about 1 inch wide and 4 or 5 inches long and kind of just wiggle in the dirt a little in a plastic cup. The cool thing about them is that you get to watch them transform into a beatle so educational, but super gross and ugly! Can you imagine if your pet larve or giant beatle got loose? Ew!