8.03.2011

Goodbye letter: Korea 20

There are some things about this country that I will sorely miss when I return stateside. Since I haven't uploaded the pictures to accompany my latest adventures and since I'm leaving on Sunday, I decided to share some of those with you today.

Dear Korea:
I'll miss your food. I'll miss the sides of hot peppers dipped in red pepper sauce. I'll miss eating 90% of my meat off a bone. I'll miss making my food at the table. I'll miss having noodles in everything. I'll miss getting a basic soup then dressing it to my liking. I'll miss rice or noodles with every meal. I'll miss having noodles after I have my meat. I'll miss having so many side dishes that I can't fit my main course on the table. I'll miss the abundance of cheap delicious ice cream bars. I'll miss drinking my milkshake out of a pouch. I'll miss having kimbap for breakfast.

I'll miss your affinity for neon. I'll miss walking down the street and having everything from restaurants to bars to karaoke flashing at me.

I'll miss your love of the night life. I'll miss karaoke with friends. I'll miss wandering around looking for a bar. I'll miss soju outside of the 7-11.  I'll miss the man who runs the 7-11.

I'll miss your transportation system. I'll miss cheap taxis. I'll miss the easy to navigate subway. I'll miss wandering through markets to get from point a to point b. I'll miss shopping in subway stations. I'll miss lining up in straight lines to board the subway.

I'll miss watching an entire episode of How I Met Your Mother followed by 20 minutes worth of commercials. I'll miss commercials that I can't understand but that get stuck in my head anyways. I'll miss subtitles on the bottom of every channel. I'll miss the crazy game shows.

There's so much I'll miss about you Korea. Our time together was short but sweet. At the same time I'm ready for home. I'm ready to understand when a stranger speaks to me. I'm ready to not struggle to communicate. I'm ready to eat more familiar food. I'm ready to sleep in my own room. I'm ready to see my family. I'm ready for my life to settle back down. I'm ready to cook in my own kitchen again. I'm ready to have a dryer for at least some of my clothes. I'm ready to escape the rain.

Home's starting to sound so nice.

1 comment:

  1. wow! Sounds like you had so much fun! Oh what I would do to live out of the country for a couple of months =)

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