i remember when

i remember when korea was just this country that i saw in the movies. movies i watched on the weekends while sitting on my striped couch from IKEA in my townhouse on Stargrass Court in Woodbridge, Virginia. matt and i would watch these korean films, reading the subtitles and would i think how kooky and bizarre the streets and homes looked in the movies filmed in korea, the same looking streets that i walk along everyday, by the homes that have become so familiar looking to me that i think back with surprise at how odd they once looked to me.

today i went to my favorite local grocery market (which is odd cause it's the smallest and therefore the most difficult in which to navigate especially with all the pushy ajumas crowding up the place) and while i was ordering the guy to "give me this", "give me that", "how much is this?", while simultaneously thinking about trying a new vocabulary word i recently learned (and used during today's speaking portion of the mid-term btw) for bunch - 송이, as in "i want to buy a bunch of bananas", he said to me in korean, "your korean is good. how long have you lived here? three years?" ... i was shocked that #1. he thought my korean was good, #2. i could understand what he said, and #3. he guessed correctly about my time here in korea .... and i wonder .... is it obvious?

i told him, yes, 3 years.

(note: in actuality, i'm 5 months shy of my 3 year anniversary ... and perhaps by september i'll be able to say all of that in korean!)