365 days in Korea

Today marks my one-year anniversary of coming to Korea. It was this day last year that I first entered Korean territory. Boy has 365 days changed my life. It would be proper to make note of it. I will do so by highlighting some pros and cons about living in Korea as compared to the US!

Okay, let's start with the bitch-fest, oh, I mean, cons:

Expensive Produce

I'm past pouting about it these days as I convinced myself to consider produce a necessary living expense, like utilities. Most of my grocery money is spent on produce. I eat sometimes as many as 6 pieces of fruit a day. The kinds of fruit that I enjoy here in Korea: apples (green and red), oranges, bananas, cherries, strawberries, Korean melons, watermelons, nectarines, tangerines, pineapples, kiwis, and persimmons. I am guessing that all fruit is imported from other countries and is the reason for the high prices. For example: A family sized watermelon is about $15, a large apple is between $1 and $2, and 500 grams of strawberries can be as high as $8. I don't know whether any fruits are grown domestically - maybe persimmons.

I'm constantly sick

For two reasons: (1) poor air quality and (2) germ sharing.

(1) The pollution in Seoul is bad. For example, if I spend the whole day walking about town, shopping at open markets and visiting landmarks then, later that day I will find that a good nose blow returns blackened mucus. (2) It is very hard to avoid sharing germs with the members of your dinner party when eating a typical Korean-style meal. Each meal is accompanied with several small side dishes for everyone at the table to enjoy. Each person is meant to eat from the shared dish with his/her own chopstick. Inevitably "double-dipping" occurs. If someone at that table is carrying a virus and eating from the shared dish then I will get sick.

Stares

I'll never completely get over the stares. They're so unfriendly. If the person staring would just crack a smile or return a smile to the one I'm giving him/her then things would feel different but Koreans just stare with the unfriendliest expressions, which evokes my feelings of insecurity. I know I'm the foreigner and they are most likely just curious. I'm sure the stares are benign but holy cow, take a picture already!

Apartment Hunting

In the states apartment hunting goes like this: 3 months or so before one needs to move into an apartment, one begins his/her search by looking in the classified ads or making inquiries at the apartment complex or using online apartment search services. And if one found a suitable place, then he/she could set up a rental contract a couple of months in advance, make a deposit and secure that apartment. It is possible for a person in the States to find an apartment without the assistance of a realtor and without having to pay any commission fees. In Korea it's different. Realtors handle apartments contracts. And you simply cannot start your search any earlier than 1 month prior to desired move-in date. Realtors seem to work on a month-to-month basis and I suppose that is because the apartment owners request the realtor's help within a month of their renter's departure. But that isn't the cause for stress when apartment hunting in Korea ... it's the language barrier. There are some realtor offices that "cater to foreigners" but my experience is that that means the business owner speaks English but passes you off to his (non English speaking) staff for apartment viewing. Without an interpreter, questions like, 'does that appliance convey?' and 'where does the landlord live?' and 'where is the closest bus station?' and 'what are the average monthly utility costs?' are dead in the water! This leads me to my next gripe about Korea ...

Language Barrier

It's an every day struggle. Even though Koreans go crazy over learning English, it is still very uncommon and rare to come across an everyday Korean who speaks and understands English. I read body gestures, facial expressions and vocal tones and can guess feelings and emotions and opinions of various situations happening around me. But when dealing with Koreans in my everyday life like at grocery stores, at restaurants, at banks, and when buying from vendors it's a struggle. For example, last month's utility bill went missing, well it never actually made it to my mailbox. Getting a new bill ended up being an hour long activity that included being passed off to 3 different people and sent to two different locations all because I cannot say in Korean "I need another copy of my utility bill." I know only a few phrases in Korean so I spend a lot of time communicating with my hands to (hopefully) get the information I need. For example, sometimes the price banners for the fruit at the grocery store aren't lined up perfectly with the fruit to which they refer. That ends up being an activity that includes me flagging down someone and pointing to the fruit and then pointing to the closest price banner with an inquisitive look. (I feel like a monkey. Sometimes I wish I could learn Korean by osmosis!) And sometimes Koreans need information from me. I'm talking about all those times halmoni comes up from behind me and asks for directions. (If you live in Korea this will happen to you at least once.) I sure wish I could help but instead I have to turn around and show her my miguk face.

[more to come ... gone to bed on this 365th day in korea]