Sunset on Korea

Travelling Thor
Leaving Korea, so what will I miss?

• Stores giving you stuff for free and calling it service. Free hair cut tune ups.
•Galbi.
•Thousands of grocery stores everywhere.
•Very cheap incidental life. Cheap drinks!
•Good shopping.
•Vibrant street life, and ajumas selling everything under the sun in any random corner of sidewalk that they can find.
•Easy access to the rest of Asia.
•The hills and mountains within a five minute walk. •Country side agriculture only 5 minutes away.
•An easily accessible community of ex-pats to be a part of. Shared trials and tribulations with the ex-pats. Canadian bonding over hockey and shared experience.

•Teaching kids. Pain in the ass that they are, and the tediously long hours aside, they keep things interesting. Who will I miss most? Hugh, George, Ray. Anne from that annoying afternoon class. I hated that class so much, but they have redeemed themselves a bit since they apparently miss me. Especially Thomas! After all of our battling it sort of surprises me, but I guess it must be part of the psychology of macho young boys that they like to clash with their older male peers. Cruse was pissing me off a lot more than Thomas toward the end. I’ll also miss Elaine from Columbia class. She was always sweet and interesting to talk to. I’ll miss Ann and Jasmin from Oxford, and even Charlie to some extent because he was a funny guy. I’ll miss Yale class in general, at the same time as being relieved not to have to deal with them any longer. If all classes were like them they’d all be speaking English in no time. They were a funny little experiment in psychology too.
•I’ll miss the fact that everything in Beommul-Jisan is so close together. No cars, except to go downtown.
•Not having to know what’s going on and beign able to wander around making an ass of yourself, and expecting to get away with it.
•Unloading planes quickly and efficientyly. Fast bus drivers. No beating around the bush like they do in Canada.
•Interesting landscape.
•Interesting stuff happening everywhere.
• Generous Korean people, sharing food and all their stuff with you.
•No expansive suburbs in the same way as Canada. Not that there’s no suburbs, but they are less isolated, and blend better with the rest of the city.
•Deliverable food

What will I not miss? Some classes, like that period 4 class.
•Mr. Kim and patriarchal Korean men. Slavish hours and putting up with crap.
•No vacation.
•Busses without shocks.
•Crappy boring architecture.
•Hot hot summers.
•Stupid Korean heating sytems and no insulation.
•Being a general spectacle.
•Loud, abusive drunks waking up the whole building.
•Our washing machine.
•A one room apartment.
•traffic jams
•Cold bathrooms.
•Everything falling apart all the time.
•Lack of food variety.
•old fashioned korean morality and pandering commericals.
•lack of movies.
•Not being able to explain yourself or get around expected procedures.