Things I Miss....

Noah Patrick, our grandson with a
waitress from the Chinese restaurant
we ate at shortly before our move.

Today is kinda a rainy gloomy day in Suwon. For the rainy season, we really haven't had too many rainy days. We are starting our second month in South Korea and I haven't really thought a lot of the people and things we left in the United States. It's not that the family and friends are not in my thoughts a lot but if I dwell on it too much, it would make me terribly sad. I miss my kids. Although, they are pretty much grown, living overseas I'm not able to be there immediately if needed. We also are Grandparents for the first time and it is hard not to see Noah every week. They change sooo much when they are little and it seems that all of the sudden they are grown. I miss my girlfriends, thank goodness for e-mail.

I miss grass. Although it was a constant worry: needing to be mowed, needing rain, needing to chase sprinklers... I miss our restaurants. Donatelli Brothers (http://www.donatellis.com/) has been a weekly visit for twenty-five years. Curt misses Chipoltle burritos. I miss being able to read the menu. I can't wait for the Korean language lessons. I miss the craft stores like JoAnn's and Michaels. I could get just about anything I needed there. I miss being anonymous foreigners get looked at a lot. I miss getting my hair foiled. They don't even know what that is over here. Who would ever pay to have someone put a bunch of tin foil in your hair?!

I miss being able to turn on the faucet to brush my teeth. Here in Korea, you need to use bottled water. I miss my dryer. My clothes are really crunchy from air drying. I miss bookstores where I can read the titles. I love to read. I did bring a lot of books with me so that has helped. I miss living in a country where I don't have to worry about my neighboring country (I never knew Seoul was so close to the North Korean border).

I miss television. The hotel channels that are in English are: CNN (BBC version), BBC, Animal Planet and a Korean channel called Arirang. I am hooked on Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor." Until this show, I did not even know that there was such a creature as a meerkat. I am also enjoying "The Crocodile Hunter" with Steve and Terri Irwin. He had such a passion for life.

I haven't really been a big soap opera watcher since the days of Luke and Laura from General Hospital. But my husband got me hooked on a Korean soap opera. He found it on an Asia channel back home before we left. It is called, "My Lovely Sam Soon." Here is a link all about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_is_Kim_Sam_Soon

They have a lot of soap operas on all the time. They also have shows with the same six Korean guys doing all kinds of really silly things. One time they tried to race a train, another time they tried to put their body through a tennis racket. But they seem to have a good time. There are also a lot of cooking shows and I'm learning a lot about Korean cooking. They put a lot of work into their prep and they have pretty sharp knives to julienne all those vegetables they use. I'm cooking impaired as it is and keep all my knives pretty dull for a good reason. I am still trying to learn to make rice without it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

How about a few things I don't miss. I don't miss the presidental candidates campaigning already. I think they should only be allowed to announce that they are running for office six months before the election. I don't miss bad news. Oh, they may have some here but I can't understand the language. I don't miss the celebrity gossip. Oh, that's not true, I do like to listen to it too but I just don't need it every day. I don't miss cleaning my house although that will change in a few days when we move to our apartment. I miss "Kathy Griffin, My Life on the D List," "Top Chef," Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen," and many others I can't think of right now.

We are moving on Thursday and wait till you see moving, Korean style. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures.