Travel Log Korea from the begining and onward
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| I'm having a horrible time trying to decide what to
eat for dinner. It's horribly frustrating when you realize that what you really want to eat is a burrito, and that there are simply a complete and utter lack of Mexican resturaunts in Daegu. There is a complete and total lack of refried beans, or corn tortilla's or even green chilies, which would be a wonderful thing for a person if they wanted to make their own mexican dinner at home, but generally it is difficult to find the igrediants to make proper food, and far far cheaper to just eat food out than to make it yourself. I've been in Korea for a year. It dawned on my Tuesday and we went to celebrate on Wednesday night, even though we mistakenly celebrated to hard on Tuesday night. I'm not sure how the Tuesday night festivities began, but at some point it got super crazy and we were all al little sick on Wednesday. However I wanted to go to the Makchung resturaunt on Wednesday night, more because I like the company then eating Makchang (being that I don't eat it at all, actually) and we managed to pull it off and include Chris, Jason, Kim, Sam, Hee-Ae and myself in the outing, which was very nice indeed. So, I've been in Korea for a year. I want to reflect, I want to somehow sit down and say, "This is what I have learned from a year in Korea" and yet when I try to define it in a tangiable experiential way, I am at an utter loss for words. I've been here a year, and I've just gotten used to it. I'm used to the fact that people generally don't know what I'm saying, or that I don't know how to express what I want. I'm used to being stared at by people who are just astonished to see a foriegner. I'm used to the over crowded markets and the spicy food. I'm used to too much traffic on the weekends to make going out an easy or fun thing. I'm used to being lost and figuring out how to get where I'm going anyway. I'm used to be astonished by a culture that is so different from the one I came from. A culture that goes back thousands of years, rather then just a few hundred. I'm used to seeing buildings and standing in spots that seem foriegn and somehow unrelatable. I miss so many things I wouldn't even no where to begin. I miss long American holidays which make taking a vacation unneccesary. I miss hanging out in Springville on the weekend and making pots, or mooching food. I miss laundry privlages and aging Volkeswagen foxes. I miss a small orange dog who is always exicted to go out even when there are three feet of snow on the ground (or especially when there are three feet of snow on the ground). I miss a five hour drive to Dayton where I can crash on the floor and watch the PowerPuff girls. I miss Taco Bell. It really can happen. A person can reach that point of homesickness. I'm sure you didn't think it possible but it is. I miss drinking with my landlord at his favorite bars, and a crazy little grey cat who always insisted on knocking over my paintbrushes. It's been a year, a year, a year. I keep thinking that. I figure I'll get off this now anyway, and start trying to figure out what will happen in the next. I know the plan for now is opening the new school, possibly getting a new raise, hopefully fixing a washing machine, at some point a month off (possibly after September) definately a week of in July, and maybe some other things that we haven't gotten around to yet. I'll keep you posted. Feel free to write and say hello, as I miss people all the time, and hope to see each of you eventually. That's all for now. Yours, Sara |