In the months before I left, I started writing a list of the many things I would miss about Korea. Also a list of things I never want to forget about my life in Korea.
- This corner spot at this cafe, where I go only when I’m by myself
- Killing time by people watching
- Sitting outside in the sunshine when it’s fall
- That moment when the first student comes into the classroom and says “good morning teacher”
- Watching the Seoul sunrise during summer runs when the streets are empty at 5 am
- When the soju bottle is empty and we look at each other and without a word know that we need another one
- That really friendly crossing guard at work that always smiles and says good morning; he always made our day
- All of the hilarious things that happen in a school day; things the kids say in English, Jana coming to my classroom and messing with the kids, eating snacks together, when Jean and Jana send their kids to my class with cups of 꿀떡, 편의점runs with Allie during break time
- My legs feeling sore when I sit down for the morning teacher meetings
- When restaurant workers know our order because we’re regulars
- Getting service
- Riding the bus to visit the first city I lived in; getting 계란빵 from the best stand ever in downtown Gumi
- Walking to work listening to 00000 Million after 7 am yoga
- Walking anywhere, anytime, with both headphones blasting, and never feeling unsafe
- Solo hikes in the fall
- Going to to run with my crew every Thursday night
- The routine that makes me love the life I created in this city
- That old man who I always see running on summer mornings (who sometimes passes me cause he’s a speed demon….)
- The grandpa who I always see walking on the track that waves and cheers for me when I run
- When the soccer players accidentally kick the ball toward me while I’m running on the track and I panic that it’s gonna hit me in the face, then it doesn’t and I laugh at myself
- When my crew or yoga friends say “우리 크리스틴” and my heart is happy
- When random children (or anyone really) try to speak English to me
- When I zip my kids’ jackets up and for like half a second I pretend that they’re my child and I’m sending them off the school
- Going for evening walks by myself in the winter, wrapped in a scarf and listening to music
- Fighting at the restaurant about who’s gonna say 여기요
- Seeing my yoga teachers handing out flyers in the morning when I walk to school and getting hugs from them
- The way people hug at the studio
- Crossing the Han River on the subway and looking outside thinking that I came to this city to be a part of it but instead it became a part of me
- DK, our favorite chef guy at the BBQ restaurant 한남돼지집
- Having the fastest internet in the world
- Never carrying keys ever
- My favorite Hershey’s cone
- When Jana and I go on trips and get excited for our “airport sandwich” which we later discovered exists in Paris Baguette stores everywhere and not just at the airport
- Transportation apps that accurately live track the subways and buses and also tell you exactly what door to stand at to make your transfer the fastest possible
- Blending in, in a country of Asian people, and for the first time not feeling like a minority
- Being an invisible foreigner
- Going to Daegu to visit Michelle
- All of our favorite restaurants
- Random moments where I feel like I really made a life here
- Walking around and reading signs and advertisements even though I have no clue what they mean because just reading characters makes me feel accomplished
- Convenience stores actually being extremely convenient
- Being in situations where being a foreigner makes things so much easier / Playing that foreigner card
- Living in the same building as my best friends
- That feeling I get when I do something by myself for the first time and with no help from a Korean person
- Standing in a store perusing Korean snacks
- Getting to see the moon change phases every single night while walking home from the yoga studio
- Feeling like a proud New Yorker when I completely disobey crosswalk signals
- Bowing to every single person ever
- Monster pizza
- All the people we meet when we go out; the next day when we recap the night and laugh so hard
- Staycations with Michelle
- Heated floors
- Heated subway seats
- Awesomely cheap medical insurance
- Meeting Koreans who lived or studied in America and asking them what they miss, and hearing “Chipotle” as the answer
- Going to the grocery after school and buying basically the same exact things
- Costco trips and taking the wrong bus and ending up somewhere far away; aborting the mission and going to get food
- Crazy and hilarious taxi drivers, and taxi drivers that speak English
- The anxious and possibly exciting feeling every time I go to the Sinsa area that I’ll run into Sway
- Drinking soju at convenience store like the foreigners we are
- Ordering 네네치킨 and watching a movie in my cave
- Leaving school immediately after the last bell on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays so that I can make it to yoga class on time
- When we sit and have tea together after class and the people at the yoga studio discover that I’m not Korean
- When Jana has to buy BTS tickets and it’s the funniest thing in the world because life depends on this moment. Literally
- Waiting on line at Downtowner and feeling VIP when Mojito personally delivers our burgers and gives us free french fries
- When people visit me and I already know exactly what we’re going to do and what they’ll love
- When people ask to do tarot
- All the help from Jean and Harim when it comes to Korean stuff
- Walking behind Rob and looking at all the girls that stare at him in adoration of his 스몰 페이스
- Beerday Sunday Fundays!!!!!
- Waking up early and going to run races
- Meeting up with Margaret to eat ice cream and laugh about how we met in Korean class and bought matching pants an hour later
- Eating endlessly basically every meal
- How so many things feel like second nature after two years in Seoul
- Requesting music at the club (sometimes by screenshotting “Rihanna” and holding it up to the DJ booth ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ”
Great post 😁