Things I Miss

Now that I have been home for a few weeks I think it is time I sit down and try to make of list of all the things I miss about Korea, and well because this list could go on and on for days and I am sure once I post this I will think of about a hundred more things I miss about Korea.

So where should I start the list?  Maybe food, or friends, or kids, or just life. 

*Thinking.....
*Thinking........
*Thinking............

We will start with maybe what I miss the absolute most.

Grace and Jasmine became some of the best friends I have ever had and I miss them more then I ever thought I would.  When I first met them I won't lie, I looked at these two skinny women with perfect makeup and cloths and thought "wow, we have nothing in common" and as the weeks went by I slowly got to know them and well now can say that they are one of the best parts about Korea.  I could go on and on about these two but I also want to add in Annie who was also amazing and fit in so well with our group, she had the cutest little boy, was amazing with the kindergartners, could rock it out in a "Singing Room" and loved to drink beer with the rest of us!


Ok I could go on and on about these girls but I will save that for another blog of maybe just photos.  It breaks my heart every week getting facebook messages from them to hurry up and come back because I would love to go back and see them. 

Next it is hard to say what I miss the most.  I guess I will go with food because I may or may not have made my mom (well she offered because it is all I have been talking about) go out of the way to find a Korean Market today to get some of the stuff I love and have been missing. 

I loved and well still do so I guess LOVE Korean Barbeque. I loved the beef and the pork so much I could eat it every day and well before we left did. It is cooked on a grill right in the middle of your table. You cook onions, mushrooms, garlic and meat all right in front of you and for cheap! It is a great way to enjoy dinner with friends and can last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. It use to be one of my favorite date night meals with Ryan. Oh and I almost forgot the Kimchi! Kimchi is fermented cabbage and is amazing! Anyways this weekend we will be enjoying Kimchi (Sadly not the type shown on the grill there), and Pork on a grill just like this one because lucky for me my mom loved this meal also and found one of these grills and it now lives happily in our kitchen! Oh I forgot to tell you how to eat this, well you wrap it up in a lettuce leaf and eat it with rice and a spicy green onion mix.



Pork before it was fully cooked

I also loved the soup, the pizza, the pasta, the hamburgers, the ice cream, the beer, the well everything.  I don't eat fish but that oddly didn't bother me much as there were tons of choices without sea food or it is easy to pick around.  And well I may or may not of eaten some squid one day in a Korean pizza.   I was scared to go to Korea at first and Ryan was worried I would lose so much weight; however if you know me then you know that is not the case. I gained a little over 15 pounds in Korea, and I walked everywhere so umm yes the food was great and I may of loved it just a little too much. 

Another thing I miss is the drinks, I mean who wouldn't love Rum Beer? And well the company was always great!  Bars are cleaner, quiter and cheaper in Korea.  To top it off you get to drink your Rum Beers in a boat! Sadly I think I was the only one to ever get to excited about this fact.

 

I would also have to say I miss the cakes!  They had amazing cakes covered in fruit for a toping, with fruit then mixed in to the mix.

We had two bakeries right out in front of our apartment, then two plus a Dunkin Donuts right out in front of the gym (yea set up for a major fail right there) and then two more bakeries right under the school. I won’t lie I love bread and Koreans know how to make some amazing bread.

I also missed the "Singing Rooms" and well it is just what it sounds like. You go in, the charge by the hour and you sing as many songs as you can, drink a few drinks, and laugh your but off. I don't like to sing but this is quite a fun experience complete with electric tambourines that light up. Here is a photo of Ryan and some of our friends on his Birthday at a "Singing Room", there was lots of drinking and laughing that night.



Going to the pet store to pet the puppies.





And well there were many more puppies that passed not only through the pet store but also our hearts.

I also miss, and I am very shocked by some of these:

• Our tiny kitchen
• Our small (but cozy) apartment
• Only having 6 English TV Channels meaning that Ryan and I got to watch a lot of reruns but also got to watch a lot of older movies together.
• Having coffee in every convent store (not just hot coffee but 3 whole fridge filled with different types of cold coffee), I was so shocked when I went into a gas station for the first time and couldn't get a cold coffee (well outside of Starbucks).
• Being able to walk or take the bus, train, subway or taxi everywhere.
• Crazy trips to Costco (they may of always been a pain but looking back now they were fun and something I home to never forget).
• Making friends with random shop owners who want start to remember us because we are there every other day.
• Flowers from Ryan because they were just so cheap he had to get them for me.
• All the amazing shoes in Korea.
• Korean pop culture.
• The Korean culture over all.
• Going sightseeing on the weekends.
• Slowly but surely learning Korea
• Living on my own, I love being home but having my own place was also so nice
• How easy recycling was

I'll end this with one more even though there are still so many and I'll choose.....the amazing views on the way to work of rice fields.

 

Sadly these photos don't even show half how pretty it was. 

Hope everyone is having a good week I am off to watch some Dexter!