Friday, September 28, 2012

What I Wish I'd Brought to Korea

Remember how I said in my video that I was going to do a follow-up about what I wish i had brought to Korea? Without a video-camera (or camera period, for that matter) I will use my words.
  1. More shoes. Had I truly grasped the gravity of the situation (NO new shoes for a YEAR), I would have packed an entire suitcase with shoes of every kind. But even worse than that--I brought NO tennis shoes. So yeah, remember those.
  2. More American candy. I gave my kindy class Reeses cups today for doing so well on their presentations yesterday and the ensuing ten minutes while they were eating them was perhaps the quietest and most focused they had ever been in the last three weeks. 
  3. Spices. I suppose these would really be called "additives." Making things that taste even remotely similar to their American versions is near impossible when you don't have access to things like garlic salt, onion salt, bouillon, Italian seasonings, etc. However, this is totally secondary to the shoes and candy.
  4. A mattress pad. After traveling to India and now to Korea, it seems that Asia doesn't put much stock in a nice, soft bed. And for a person who really prefers Uncle Fester's bed from Addam's Family, I'm in for one rough year. Either that, or I'll become so accustomed to a firm bed that I'll return home and sleep on the floor. Hey, I'd save a lot of money in the long run. Here's to sucking it up!
  5.  More Korean skills. Okay, so this isn't a material good. But it's one of the few on this list that would really improve my quality of life here. The other things are just that--things. The few weeks prior to leaving for Korea when I donated more than half of my closet, got rid of most of my material possessions, and packed my new life into two neat, 40-pound squares, were perhaps some of the most spiritually cleansing weeks of my life. The things that really matter, now those are the things I packed in my head--my common sense, my respect for other cultures, my curiosity, my tolerance, my desire to learn, my innate sense of which direction is North.
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1 comment:

  1. I absolutly love your posts about living abroad. Keep em' comin'!

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