Last Updated on July 17, 2019
We finally made it! Home for the next year. Moves are typically stressful, but ours was extra – Italy to Vegas to Detroit to New York to Boston to Vegas to Albuquerque to Los Angeles and finally to South Korea. We’ve been here for one week now and, to be honest, I haven’t spent much time off base yet. There’s a whole new country I’ve been so excited to experience that I just haven’t had the energy to explore quite yet. We arrived into Seoul late Tuesday afternoon. It was bizarre to think that we completely skipped over Monday with a 15-hour flight plus the time change. My internal clock has been all messed up. Once arriving in Seoul, we bought our bus tickets to get down to Gunsan, where we would be living for the next year. It was a long 3-hour bus ride, but luckily, Korean buses are insanely comfortable with recliner seats and tons of leg room. I, unfortunately, missed out on seeing any of the sights on the ride, as I was completely passed out, oblivious to the numerous stops and bus-full of noisy people amongst me. Once finally arriving in Gunsan and catching a ride to base, we were directed to the dorm where we would be living for the year. As a fellow neighbor explained it, it’s like living in a frat house. But instead of having that privilege of living in the house, we are living in the frat house’s shed in the backyard. That pretty much sums up the living accommodations. I spent over five hours the first day trying to scrub the dorm room clean. Somehow, food and beverages had been splattered all over the walls, stickiness was just everywhere, there is mold on the ceiling, unidentifiable stains all over the carpet, cobwebs in the kitchen cabinets – which were, of course, accompanied by their carpenter (in which I killed by swatting a Swiffer and throwing many pots and pans on the floor) – rust stains in the tub, dust just everywhere, and the bathroom… I won’t gross you out with the details. Needless to say, I finally feel as though I can sit somewhat comfortably in this dorm now without crying – but you won’t catch me dead walking around without flip-flops or shoes on my feet!
Despite the condition of our living situation, we are in a decent location; walking distance to the Commissary (grocery store), BX (home goods store), food court with American novelties (think Subway, Taco Bell, Popeye’s, etc.), post office, gym, golf course, library, and more! Anxious to finally get some food and household essentials in the dorm, I planned to stop by the BX and Commissary while the hubby was at work, only to find that, as a spouse, I was not allowed to step foot in either of these stores – even if I was with my husband. I would have to wait outside the store and wait for him to do the shopping alone. If that’s not degrading, I don’t know what is?! Plus, what wife can rely on their husband to properly grocery shop without their help? Do you really think they look at expiration dates?? Luckily, I only dealt with this agony for about a day before we were able to find a loophole and obtain my own ration card so I could enter the stores on my own. Trust me, living overseas makes you appreciate so many little things in life. I will never again complain of having to go to Costco to grocery shop and try free samples.
Once the weekend came along, the hubby and I went off base a few times to explore the local town nearby, Gunsan, and try some local delicacies. One night, we tried Bibimbap, a popular dish with rice, vegetables, beef and fried egg on top. It’s my favorite dish here so far! Though, while eating, a Korean waitress came up to our table and asked, in a strong accent, if this was our first time eating it. We said yes. She then proceeded to tell us how to eat it, explaining that we must stir it together first. (I know many Americans who don’t care to eat it this way as some vegetables or the rice is best to just be avoided). This waitress wouldn’t take no for an answer, so we went on and stirred our Bibimbap, but it wasn’t good enough for her. I typically like to try to avoid eating too much rice with my meals with the high carb count, but she let me know there was lots of rice on the bottom that I needed to stir in. She wouldn’t leave until I did I feared. So, I stirred it in and then was told that I needed to add the hot sauce in – which I’m not a huge fan of a lot of spice. She insisted though. I finally stirred that in as well before she finally left after about five minutes of hovering. Oh, but she came back to check we were eating it properly at least three times after that.
Another night, we tried another local dish called Beef on a Leaf. I honestly thought this was going to be somewhat of a fast food experience. You know, walk up to a food truck, ask for some beef. On a leaf. Done. No. Not the case. We entered a restaurant with elephant trunks hanging from the ceiling. Just kidding. They were long tube-like vents over each table, but certainly a sight to see. We sat down at our table with an elephant trunk hanging down in the middle of our table. A Korean man came up and asked what we wanted. The hubby was looking at me for my opinion, yet I was completely frozen unsure of what I was supposed to be ordering – I thought we were getting beef on a leaf?! Moments later, the man rushes over with a stifling pan of hot coals that he placed in the middle of our table just inches away from us. A little close for comfort. He put a grate on the coals and then brought over dishes and dishes of vegetables (one of which included a platter of leaves, thank goodness), and platters of raw beef. Ah, we had to cook our own beef and then put it on a leaf. Okay. This is finally where beef on a leaf comes in. I hate to break it to you, but I did not end up eating the beef on the leaf. It ended up being more of a beef and vegetable salad that I managed to quickly scoop into my mouth with chopsticks before falling back to my plate (still getting used to those darn utensils – I now understand why Asians are so tiny. It’s called the chopstick diet…).
The best part is yet to come. Dessert! So far, we’ve had Bingsu twice now. I promise you this description will not do this dessert justice. It’s essentially shaved ice with different toppings on it and then you pour condensed milk over it. Yes, it sounds gross. But it’s delicious (well, some flavors). The first time we had a chocolate brownie Bingsu, which had cocoa powder, brownie pieces and Oreo crumbles over it. The not-so-great choice for our second time around we thought was going to be more of a blondie-type of dessert. It almost looked like it was graham cracker crumbs with blondie pieces and nuts. Delicious! No. It was actual peanut butter powder (like PB Fit) with tasteless gummies and a few slivered almonds on it. It was. Disgusting! We finally ended up pouring water over it to try to make the peanut butter powder into peanut butter, but it just ended up being us eating peanut powder and snow. I don’t recommend.
I’ll give it to the Koreans, though. They are pretty smart (other than thinking that Bingsu flavor was a good idea). Some of the things they do, you just kind of say, “duh, why can’t Americans think of that?”. For instance, rather than having a waiter come up to your table a billion times while you’re eating, there is a button on the table that you press if you need something. There is a drawer on every table that has utensils and napkins, they just leave a pitcher of water on your table. So smart! At grocery stores, you know how we tend to double bag so you can tie the first bag to hold your stuff in and then be able to hold the handles on the outer bag? Well, Koreans thought it would just be easier to add two little flaps to their bag perpendicular to the handles so you can tie andhold just one bag. Genius!
Overall, it’s been a pretty interesting first week here in South Korea. I’m finally adjusted to the jet lag, but find it extremely weird that all of my family and friends are one day behind me. I think this year will go by pretty fast, though. There is so much to see and explore, not only in South Korea, but surrounding countries as well. Going into this new journey with some optimism. Until next week, Catch the Drift!
XO from my new home in South Korea,
Kylie
