Normalcy

HA.  I started writing the following post at the beginning of April but never published it because I wasn't finished with my thoughts. It's funny to travel back in time, in some kind of strange way, to what my thoughts were a few months ago... 

P.S. Can you believe three posts in ONE day?  Don't get used to this, dear readers! 

So anyway, here's where my head was on April 4, 2011:

I've been thinking about living in Korea a lot lately.  Like, more than the typical day to day living here encounters type stuff.  The time here goes by lightning fast.  Everyone has always told me that the older you get, the faster the time passes.  If time passes this fast at 23 years old, I'm baffled at the thought of how quickly time will pass as I grow even older!  Weird.  As a result of being here for seven months (!) already, life here has begun to feel normal.  The honeymoon period is over and Diane and I no longer feel a need to experience touristy weekend attractions.  We're more interested in walking around and enjoying the city for itself.  This provides for some good people watching and contextual funny stories, but little in the way of blog post topics...  Sorry.

On the other hand, I marvel at how I sometimes feel like I'm still very much a newbie to this living in Korea thing.  For instance, I have yet to experience most of the culinary delights on my street.  I'm sure you're asking yourself how this is possible given the propensity with which I write about the food I eat here...  But, I assure you, it's true.  Just today I was talking to some of my most adorable students about where they were going.  They informed me with great excitement that they were on their way to buy toast.  (There is a franchise here that makes a butt-ton of different variations of grilled cheese / melt sandwiches).  My eyes lit up.  You see, I have wanted to try this toast for quite some time, but there lies a barrier.  I am terrified to order it.  Yes, I can finally read Korean, ergo, I can read the menu.  Yes, between the little Korean I know and the abundance of Konglish (English terms interpreted into Korean writing), I should be able to figure out what most of the sandwiches entail.  Here's the clincher:  there is a 78% (did you know that 88% of percentages are made up?  Just like both of these... :) ) chance that at any given moment that I try to order said toast, a student will either be in the shop, ordering her own toast or within earshot of the toast shop to hear me sound like a fool.  And, no, I do not welcome the opportunity to look like a tool in front of my students...  So, (and I'm sure this didn't alleviate my fears of making a fool of myself) I practiced ordering a toast with my students on the walk home.  They were so excited that I tried to speak Korean and helped perfect my toast order.  Their excitement over my practicing how to order toast was so delightful that I didn't care if I looked like a tool to them. 

(That was all I wrote on the topic, but I had bigger plans for this post...)

I still have yet to order one of those sandwiches, but I have explored more areas of my neighborhood and Gwangju in general, thanks to my gal pal Desiree's arrival.  It's funny how some days, living here seems like the most natural thing in the world for me and other days, I have those light-bulb-above-the-head epiphany moments where all of a sudden, I think to myself, "Holy BALLS.  I live in KOREA!"  Who would have thunk that living in Korea would ever seem normal?  And, despite that sense of normalcy and comfort, each day, I learn, discover or experience something new.  I am convinced that one year here is not enough (in my case) to fully gain everything from this experience.  I'm thanking my lucky stars that A) I somehow fell into one of the best situations for which one could ask and 2) that my school likes me just as much as I adore them.  Just this weekend, Diane and I were talking about how during our first month here, we were both warned about our honeymoon phase, where everything about Korea is exciting and new and interesting, would soon wear off and we would find ourselves having trouble adjusting, being homesick or even hating it here to some extent.  Well folks, the honeymoon doesn't seem to have ended.  And I'm okay with that.

Living here certainly keeps me on my toes on the daily.  For example, our water has been off for about three hours (that I have noticed...) and no one on my floor has any idea when it will return.  I sure hope they turn it back on before morning because the humidity has arrived and this kid needs a shower :)