Thursday, February 12, 2009

Sam's Favorite Things About Korea

As I was riding my bike to work today, I began thinking about the things I am going to miss.  Here are 10 things in no particular order.

1. My bike - I love my bike!! I did not buy it until about 4 or 5 months ago, but I can count the days I have not ridden it on 2 hands.  I am looking forwarding to driving again, but I will miss riding my bike everywhere.
2. The food - I got stuck on some dishes early on, but have since branched out, and just tonight tried something new still.  Food is the one part of Korea that I feel I have not adequately explored.
3. Drinking Korean beer on the sidewalk - There are no public consumption laws in Korea, so most convenience stores have plastic tables and chairs out front.  They sell beer in 2 liter bottles, as well as little paper dixie cups, and of course tons of snacks. Drinking beer on a summer night was relaxing and great times with co-workers, not to mention cheaper than a bar.
4. Alison - haha, I am not leaving her behind, but our relationship was different this year from the first two.  We went from living 30 minutes apart in Dallas, to two desks apart at work, and two flights of stairs apart at home, and now we are going home and will once again be separated until after the wedding. 
5. Ondol floors - I LOVE MY FLOOR HEAT!  and i pay for it.  My gas bill has been almost double Alison's some months because I love to turn on my floor heat and sit on the floor while eating, reading, surfing the web, etc.
6. Chopsticks - This is a weird one.  I eat every meal with chopsticks. Even most of my meals at home where I could use a fork, I now choose chopsticks.
7.  Cutting meat with scissors rather than a knife - It's just a Korean thing.  They cut their meat up with scissors while it is cooking, and then serve it.
8. Food - Wait...I said this already
9. My students - A few of my students, I will not miss.  But many of them I will never forget. 
10. Caramel World Cone - I have never eaten so much ice cream in my life.  Korea has the greatest selection of cones that are sold at every convenience store.  The Caramel World Cone is the Pinta Island Tortoise(click here to google it) of the ice cream cone world.  We only know of one store near us that consistently has it(but not always)stocked in their freezers.  It just blows everything else away.  If there was a way I could send home a box of dry ice filled with Caramel World Cones....I would send home three boxes of dry ice filled with Caramel World Cones.  David and I always stop and look in the freezers on the street to see if we can spot a green wrapper......Most of the time we fail, which makes the successes that much tastier.

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