People often ask us, "So, what are you guys doing over there?? Anything new? Anything exciting?" I always feel a little bad tell them, "Its all pretty normal, actually." Sure, we have funny things happen to us, but who doesn't? We regularly encounter horrible drivers, have funny exchanges with kids in our classes, and we buy the wrong ingredients in the stores. But even with those reminders that we live somewhere new, after 6 months here, life is starting to feel pretty normal.
Our first month was just a hazy. We like to refer to it has the "blur period." We were like babies. We had no idea how to get anywhere or use anything or find what we wanted. In that time, you assume that what you see is what you get. So, if I couldn't find any dish towels, I assumed that Koreans didn't use dish towels. If I didn''t see any chicken in the store, I assumed Koreans didn't eat chicken. Over time, though, we figured out how to get around our area and where to find certain kinds of food or other items we were wanting.
It's funny how a place that at one time was so foreign can become so regular and comfortable. We notice the smallest change in the junkyard across the street (such as 5 homeless grocery carts disappearing - a mystery?), we wave to the guy who directs traffic outside an apartment complex we pass every day (yes, Chris brags that the guy bows to him and not to me), and we know where to get cheap pizza just around the corner from our apartment. It is the little things like this that make our life here seem normal.
Our apartment is very modern and we've made it a bit more homey. A funny story though. Korea was taking a Census and they kept putting leaflets in our mailbox. They said, "Census" on them in English, but due to the fact that we didn't know what to do, we did nothing. Seems reasonable, right? One night our doorbell rang and Chris was the unlucky one to answer. Despite Chris's best attempts to communicate that he doesn't speak Korean, the woman insisted on talking to him and getting him to answer questions about the Census. When it became clear (why it took so long, I'm not sure) that Chris wouldn't be able to answer the questions in Korean, the woman promised to come back tomorrow at 8pm (how this was communicated, again, I'm not sure. The reason I'm hazy on all the details is that I wasn't actually present for any of these conversations. All of this is from Chris's mouth - I cannot verify its accuracy) She did return the next night with another census taker and Chris was able to answer the questions. A majority of the questions revolved around our apartment. Did you have indoor plumbing? Is your kitchen a modern kitchen? Do you have hot water? It's a bit amusing that these questions made it on the census when we (and everyone else we know) live in very modern housing, but I guess they wouldn't be asking the questions if it wasn't relevant to at least a segment of the population.
So to conclude, our life here is pretty normal. It's good, it has funny moments, frustrating moments, and we wonder if at some point we will no longer have indoor plumbing (I jest), but otherwise its pretty normal.
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