Saturday, February 20, 2010

Korea Likes, Dislikes

I dislike:

- Milk. It tastes gross here. I drink 2% in the States, so it shouldn't be that different, but it is.
- Clothes dryers. Or the lack thereof. Why no clothes dryers?? No toasty warm clothes or tight-fitting jeans. Sigh. I suppose I should be happy that we're being "green" or whatever.
- COLD. Oh, so cold. Brrr. Jeonju, my hometown, is thankfully less cold than Seoul. Still cold, though.
- The cat, when he hisses at me. For no reason. The cat's a little psycho- he had a very rough kittenhood, and it's made him a crochety cat.
- Buses in Jeonju. What the heck?? Buses in Seoul are nominally better, but still hard for me- I don't understand where we're going and where to get off- where are the maps, people??
- AT&T. International roaming in Korea is $2.29/minute. That is ridiculously stupid. Thank goodness for free wireless everywhere, because at least I have internet access!
- All the seafood people try to stuff down my throat. Blargh.


I like:

- No housekeys! Number pad, 4-digit passcode, voila! No locking yourself out of the house, no worrying about where the keys are.
- Heated floors (ondol). So. Awesome. I had forgotten how great warm footsies are.
- My grandfather. I missed him a lot. He makes funny noises, calls me "아가" (which means "baby" or "child"), gives me an allowance, kicks the cat (not brutally, don't call animal services- it's a sign of affection!), wears awesome hats (fedoras and newsboy caps), and eats everything I prepare, and even tells me that it's good! I love him.
- The cat, when he meows like a kooky toy. He loves my aunt to bits, and meows so sorrowfully when she's in the bathroom that it's simultaneously hilarious and sad.
- Subways in Seoul. So clean! So user friendly!
- Free wifi everywhere. Wheee!
- Yummy Korean food, to be had on the cheap everywhere I go.


My sister has decided to make a surprise appearance in Korea! We are now busy catching up and confusing our family here by speaking in rapid-fire English.

More later!

6 comments:

william February 22, 2010 at 8:50 PM  

milk does taste weird here. it almost tastes TOO MUCH like milk. but banana milk? it's wonderful.

the longer you stay in korea, the more you'll enjoy the process of hanging your laundry to dry. not only is it better for the environment, it's better for your clothes.

that AT&T roaming fee is not because korea is bad, it's because AT&T and all american cell phone providers are bad. bad bad bad.

where are you getting all this free wifi? coffeeshops? really, i'd like to know.

enjoy the rest of your visit! i won't hate you too much for not visiting me.

Jeanny February 23, 2010 at 12:30 AM  

Milk tastes artifically like milk! Like it was pumped full of milk flavor. I still have yet to try banana milk, but I will! They do sell it in LA, so I'm not too worried about it.

I think I'm doing laundry once more here, and I'll try to find the zen in the hanging of wet clothes.

AT&T is SO evil!!

I get wifi almost everywhere- in the houses of my family members, on the street, in the subway, in coffeeshops, in restaurants- it's amazing. And no one secures their network!

I'm sorry about not visiting. :( It's been whirlwind since my sister got here; I have to re-visit all the family that I've already seen!

I'm counting on autumn. I'm already trying to figure out how much vacation time I'll have accrued by October....

jeong,  February 27, 2010 at 8:02 AM  

I like Korean food & ondol, too. And I'm really missing them. :(
I'm so sorry about can't touch with you for a long time...^^;

Jeanny! Could I get your email address? If you don't mind, you can leave it at my blog by secret mode. I have a something to tell you. It's not specially but I'd like to.

Jeanny March 6, 2010 at 7:51 PM  

Hi Jeong!

I hope you're well.

My e-mail's jeannybeans(at)gmail(dot)com.

I'm getting back online slowly but surely- see you around. :)