#5. Daiso

Sorry about the delay. It's been a busy one this week--I've been cleaning the apartment from top to bottom to get ready for some guests who came/are coming to stay. I have a little bit of a reprieve at the moment, so I'm going to try to get a few more of these banged out before things start to get really busy later next month.

#5. Daiso

So I know that this technically isn't a Korean store, but its existence has made my life so much easier, and I don't know what I would have done without it. Daiso is a magical, wonderful place, where everything you need is available for 1000, 2000, or 3000 won. And I'm not talking about the crappy dollar store stuff you find at places in the US. Half my apartment is from the dollar store, including (but not limited to) kitchen knives, bowls, plates, cups, wine glasses, jewelry boxes, hair bands and clips, Christmas and Easter decorations, potted plants, and all my office supplies. Half the things I use as filler in the packages I send home is from the dollar store and I have had no complaints about their quality. Some of their merchandise is just so ridiculously cute that its hard not to buy three or four of something even knowing that you don't even really need one.

Take, for instance, these molded rice scoopers. When am I ever going to have a real practical need for a heart shaped mound of rice? Probably never, but I rest easier knowing that if I was so inclined, I could have my rice sending signs of love to me while eating my dinner. I have also seen some ridiculously cute cookie cutters, figurines, and serving plates that sorely tempted my resolution not to buy everything in the store. On the practical side of course, it's a wonderful place to go to grab that picnic mat that can double as a sun reflector. And when you are looking for the caulk for your bathroom or a spare light bulb or some pretty decorative boxes for your tiny little apartment, its absolutely invaluable. I even bought my first set of screwdrivers from the dollar store. Of course, I don't hold any illusions that these things will stand the test of time, but for a foreigner starting a new life in a Korea, I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been able to get everything my apartment needed for such a cheap price. And as for the Christmas tree and all my first Christmas ornaments? Definitely shipping those home with me. :)

#6. Socialized Medicine

And we're back!

Man those extra three weeks seem to have disappeared quickly. I was shocked to realize yesterday that I will be leaving Korea in 38 days and I have yet to actually put anything into a box. Guess I should start making time to do some of that, huh? Oh well, back to the countdown.

#6. Socialized medicine

Before I came to Korea, I was a recently graduated 22 year old without health insurance. Obama Care had not passed either house of Congress, so when I graduated university, all of the medical insurance I had been receiving from my parents was taken away. It was six months from then that I would make it to Korea, and while I was lucky that it was such a short time and that I had no major illnesses, if I had gotten sick or needed to see a doctor of any kind, I would have been (pardon my French) screwed.

Then I came to Korea--a wonderful magical land where everyone with an alien registration card gets cheap healthcare from the government. Of course, when I first got here and while my paperwork for my alien registration was still pending, I had the misfortune of coming down with bronchitis and was left unable to speak. Needless to say I was concerned, knowing that I had to go to a doctor but also knowing that I had no insurance and very little cash on me. When I got to the doctor's office, I was seen almost immediately by an English speaking and American-trained doctor who listened to my symptoms and came to the same conclusion I had--bronchitis. He checked me over, then scribbled something on a piece of paper, and instructed me to take it to the nurse on the far end of the office, who also spoke English. She informed me that the visit would cost me 6,000 won for the consultation, and the medicine I needed was another 5,000 won. "But," I protested, "I don't have insurance." The nurse nodded sympathetically at me. "I know," she said, "I'm sorry its so expensive."

Let's retell that story if I had been in America. I would have gone to the doctor, waited an hour for someone to be able to see me, take two seconds looking down my throat to confirm the diagnosis I was already pretty sure I had, charged me $75 for my trouble, and then I would have had to go to a pharmacy, where they would have taken another $50 for the medicine I needed. $11 versus $125. Let's see here....

Another example: I am currently taking medication that I had previously used in the states. One month worth of pills would run me $30, and that was while I was still covered on my parent's health insurance plan. Here, I can get an almost identical version of the medicine and it costs me 8500 won ($8), and this is one of those medicines that is not covered by insurance. It really is a relief that I can

Of course the system here isn't perfect. Some kinds of medicine are extremely Westernized, so its comfortable for foreigners to go to the doctor and feel sure about the treatment they are receiving. However others, and especially women's health, are still very Asian oriented, which can make us feel a little uncomfortable. Doctors here do not answer questions, and they do not like explaining their diagnosis to the patient. However, considering how often I've been sick (a few times) and the comfort I get in knowing that I'm not going to have to give up eating in order to get the care I need, I think I'm getting my money's worth for my health plan. And while I am grateful that (thanks to Obama Care) I am once again covered on my parent's insurance, I'm going to miss those $3 doctor's visits.

An extension

So there will be no favorite things post this week for the simple reason that I have officially discovered the price at which my soul can be bought.

No, in all seriousness, I have been convinced by my boss to extend my contract an additional three weeks to give him time to find a better replacement for the awesomeness that is Erin-teacher. This comes right after Teacher's Day, which is a glorified popularity contest amongst the teachers to see which is the favorite of the students, judged by the number and quality of the presents they receive on said holiday. I'm pleased to say I trounced the competition this year, and apparently this did not escape the notice of the boss, who called me into his office last Wednesday offering me the moon and stars to stay just a little longer.

It was a tough decision, believe me. The logical reasoning part of my brain was telling me that it would be stupid not to stay--it was only three weeks after all, and I would more than make up for my time spent here. The emotional part of my brain, the part that was already homesick and looking forward to being home for certain celebrations that were to occur towards the beginning of the month, was fighting tooth and nail to remind me that there was a reason I was leaving after the end of June. In the end, it was the rational half that won out.

So this means we are moving the countdown back a little. I'm currently sitting at about 8 1/2 weeks, so when I get a little closer to being on track I will start the countdown again with #6. Until then, I just want to let everyone know that I love you and miss you and will definitely be seeing you soon. Just not as soon as I originally thought.

#7. Cheap Utilities

Weather is starting to heat up over here. The forecast has the temperature in the 70s all week, which means that soon we are going to have an onslaught of heat and humidity that will have me longing for the frigid days of winter. At least I'm moving to a place with dry, hot summers instead of wet hot ones....

#7. Cheap Utilities

I love how little it costs to have an apartment here. Now obviously my school pays for my rent each month, but the cost of utilities like water, power, internet and cable are all the responsibility of the teachers. I'm lucky to be employed by a school that takes my monthly bills and deducts them from my paycheck each month rather than relying on me to remember to pay these things on time. Even so, I know I'm even more lucky to be living in a country where these things cost so little that I don't even really have to worry about them .

This is an actual copy of my paystub--with certain sections omitted of course. I can tell you, these amounts are pretty much the same every month. The only one that changes is the power bill, which goes up in the summer because I absolutely cannot tolerate humidity. An easy way to convert these prices from Korean won to dollars is to just think that every 1000 won is roughly equivalent to $1--though in reality its less. If you want to do the real math, as of today, one USD equals about 1087 Korean won. So the 30,000 won gas and water bill you see there actually costs me $27.42 in the States. And how many of you want to tell me that your power bill for this month was anywhere near $10? Yeah, didn't think so...

The only thing not represented on my paystub is my cell phone bill, which is deducted directly from my checking account. It still only costs me $30 a month, which isn't bad at all considering that it comes with internet, TV, and email messaging (this is all non-smartphone, btw).

Yes, I am afraid that South Korea is kicking our buts when it comes to the cost of utilities. As sure as I am that I will not miss the impending humidity and misery that comes with summer on the peninsula, I am equally sure that I will miss being able to turn on my AC to the highest setting and not have to mentally calculate how much I have to earn that month to offset the cost.

#8. Exciting new holidays

This past weekend, a couple of friends and I took a short trip down south to Busan, a place you may remember me mentioning in September of last year. Even though this was my second time in Busan, I had an amazing time and got to see a lot of things that I didn't get to see on my last go around. This trip--and the subsequent days in Daegu--highlighted another of my top ten favorite things about Korea.

#8. Exciting new holidays

The reason why I was to l

eave work and head down south was because of a national holiday on May 5th known as Children's Day. Yes, in Korea children have an entire day devoted to taking off from school, playing outdoors with friends and family, getting presents from their relatives, and eating large quantities of sugar--and that's in addition to Christmas. Now of course, as a teacher I'm certainly not complaining. Kids not having to go to school means I don't have to go to school, which gave me the opportunity to go somewhere fun (even if that somewhere was packed with the same kids that I was at that moment NOT teaching).

It's nice to have little holidays that you don't expect when you first arrive, and there are many others like it. For instance, tomorrow, May 10th,

is also a national holiday for Buddha's birthday. Given that most Koreans are agnostic/apathetic toward religion, I'm not sure why this is still celebrated other than the fact that it puts the Buddhists on par with the Christians for nationally recognized holidays. All I know is that I get a random Tuesday off, there are pretty lanterns everywhere, and I am going to be using that time to sleep in and study Japanese like I should have been doing while I was on vacation last weekend. Koreans also celebrate both solar and lunar New Year, so teachers often get a few vacation days for each. There are several Independence Days, celebrating mostly all the different times Korea has managed to throw off Japanese rule, and also a holiday towards September commemorating the harvest.

National holidays aren't the only fun celebrations in Korea. November 11th is known as Pepero Day, an entirely commercialized day devoted to the selling and consuming of chocolate-covered biscuit sticks (in the shape of ones, so we celebrate on 11/11; get it?!). One month after Valentine's Day on March 14th, it's White Day, when women receive white chocolate from their admirers. Another month after that and its Black Day, when all those lonely souls who didn't get anything on either Valentine's Day or White Day go eat black noodles for health and prosperity. My favorite, however, has to be Teacher's Day (on May 15th), when the parents of kids buy pretty things for their teachers as a "thank you for dealing with my hyperactive child three times a week and not banging his head against the wall."

Yup, even though I do sometimes miss my American holidays--even less mainstream ones like Columbus Day and Veteran's Day--it's nice to experience the Korean way of doing things. I bet by the time 11/11 rolls around this year, I'll even miss Pepero a little bit.

#9. Public Transportation

I apologize that this post is a little late. It's been a really busy weekend for me and I didn't even have enough time to finish all the things I was supposed to do to prep for classes, let alone the things I wanted to do. Thank god its a short week--Children's Day is Thursday, which is a national holiday, and then my school has given us off Friday as well, just because they're so kind. A couple friends and I are taking advantage of this weekend to head down south to Busan for a few days. Should be a good (and relatively inexpensive) trip.

#9. Public Transportation

I can't sing praises high enough for the public transportation in Korea. Everywhere you could possibly want to go is accessible either by bus or metro or train--sometimes all three. In Seoul, of course, there are English announcements in all the subway cars and buses, but out here in Bundang it gets a little more tricky. Still, once you learn the basic sounds and how to pronounce the name of the place where you're going, its pretty much a breeze to get anywhere.

Take, for example, my weekly tutoring sessions which require me to go to northern Seoul. There are three different buses I can take to get to Seoul itself depending on how long I feel like waiting for the bus and whether or not I care if I get a seat. All three buses will drop me off at the same place in Seoul, where I can either transfer to the subway (if I'm running late) or take my choice of another three buses that will take me the rest of the way. And I know that on my way home, I'm better off going to Seoul station and transferring from subway to because because of afternoon traffic and an the increase in afternoon fares. I can get easily from my house to three different grocery stores, I know the best way to get from Sunae station to my house depending on the time of day, and I have only been lost once since coming to Korea (and since on that occasion I was following someone else, I don't think it even counts).

Personally, I couldn't even imagine driving here, and part of that is because the public transportation is just so convenient that it makes driving seem impractical. When I compare the buses and subways in Korea to what I have experienced in the US, it almost makes me want to cry. Sure, Washington D.C. isn't too bad, and some places are getting better all the time, but when I'm back in Texas sitting on the 35 and wishing for death, it will be the Korean bus lane that I'm thinking of.

#10. Kimchi

For those of you that haven't heard, I have recently accepted admission to the University of Texas to get my MA in Japanese language and literature. This of course means that I'm starting to round out my life here in Korea as I will be returning to the States in July to begin this new part of my life. As of Saturday, I have ten weeks left in "The Land of the Morning Calm", so I thought it might be nice to reminisce about all of the wonderful things I am going to miss when I move back to the states. So once a week for the next ten weeks, I am going to post a little something about Korea that I have loved in my time here.

**Note: these are in no particular order, just a random collection/countdown of favorite things in Korea.

#10. Kimchi

The one thing everyone seems to know about Korea is that they eat kimchi. As you may know, I have a certain love affair with kimchi. When I first tried it in Koreatown in Los Angeles, I thought it was the most terrible tasting food on the planet (and seeing as that includes natto, I think that's pretty bad). I was worried when I came to Korea that I wasn't going to be able to eat anything and that I would starve to death in my first week. I have since learned, however, that the bitter, sour dish I had tried in the States was undeserving to carry the noble title of kimchi. Kimchi in Korea is spicy, full good flavor and vitamins, and that when it is fermenting underground as it should be (instead of on a boat across the Pacific, as is my theory for what they serve in Koreatown) the sour mixed with the peppers and the salted cabbage is actually delicious. This is not to mention all the various ways kimchi can be used in cooking. Kimchi jiggae, kimchi on my galbi, fried kimchi with rice... I've made several omelette with kimchi in them and they've all turned out great. So whatever you may think of the idea of eating fermented cabbage, I wouldn't sneer at it until you've had the good stuff here in Korea. I love it enough that I'm probably going to go through kimchi withdrawal when I get back to Texas....