Miss Korea

What a month. Now I'm back! I'd been home for about 8 hours when I awoke to lightning and thunder and the fattest snowflakes imaginable. I heart Canada!

I thought jetlag wouldn't get the better of me but I wandered the house all day feeling like a deflated balloon. Just getting up to go to another room felt like an effort. In the evening, dinner with Isaac and a film screening at Buddies. It was great to get out but it was waaay too cold for any reasonable human being to be walking outdoors plus I felt like my brain and tummy were turned inside out. I had a great sleep last night and (best part about jetlag) got up nice and early today! We'll see how long that lasts.

Looking forward to getting back into my life at home and seeing friends but first, a little homage of lists to the best January/February ever.

What I Miss About Korea:

- The food. Rice and soup for breakfast, red bean filled pastries on the street, rice cake, green tea infused dumplings...all of it!
- The subway. Clean! Fast! Heated seats! The smart T card was just so handy. You just swipe it on your way in and out of the system and it takes care of the fare. Classical music every time the stops are announced. Plus, great people-watching.
- Bowing. Beats handshaking any day of the week.
- Little kids. In Korea they are so adorable. I think it's something about the way they speak, especially when they use the formal, respectful way of speaking to elders. Too cute.
- Seeing my mom everyday.
- Being a tourist. It's especially nice being a tourist in a place that I've known in a second-hand way my whole life. It's like seeing clearly into a dream that you half remember. Going around with mom to places that she grew up with but are now totally different was a pretty cool exercise in thinking about time and place.
- Public baths. Who knew I would grow to like them so much?

What I Don't Miss About Korea:

- Not being able to communicate myself 100%.
- Weird Perm Smell. I've had plenty of perms so I'm familiar with the eye-burning chemical smell but I've never had a perm that smells like old socks. That's what this perm smelled like and it would come back every time my hair got wet! So that's every time I shampooed, every time I washed my face and my hair got damp...it was really weird! I'm happy to report that eau de old has gone away. Evidently, I left it there.