It’s hard to believe I have been in South Korea for nearly two weeks already. Time has really flown by very quickly and yet it feels like I have done so much. This can probably be attributed to the day to day challenges I face because of the language barrier and difference in lifestyle.

Rice
Rice is an essential part of the diet here and Mrs. Lee was kind enough to give me a rice cooker. It looked really easy when she showed me and I thought I had committed all of the steps to memory. Unfortunately all of the “buttons” were in Korean so that was an obstacle by itself. I thought I remembered which button meant “cooking” and “warming” so I was confused when I plugged it in because the wrong light lit up. There was a lever in front that you had to push down to get the light to go from warming to cooking. I worked this out pretty quickly though.

I remembered to rinse the rice and I measured two cups of rice and filled the water up to the line that said two. Pretty easy right? I thought so until I went on the internet and started reading about the “two to one” ratio and second guessed myself, (and added more water). Needless to say google was not my friend in this case, the rice cooker was already calibrated. I should have trusted my memory. So I had a little bit of overflow – live and learn. It worked perfectly the second time.

Food Shopping
Though this city is westernized in many ways the packaging of food in the grocery store is still in Korean. There have been a few times where Josh and I bought something that we thought was some type of glazed chicken only to be surprised by what was actually in the package. When you ask questions in the store not many of the staff members speak English so this can be very challenging as well. We did manage to find a marinade called Beef Bulgogi that we both like and we know what type of meat goes with it now so that was a small victory in itself. I also learned how to make Seaweed soup but as healthy as it is I don’t think I can eat it every day.

Garbage
The garbage here has to be separated and if you mix the food in with the other garbage you can get fined. (I think the fine is pretty severe, non-compliance can result in a fine of up to W300,000). Here are some of the rules. I remember in NY the garbage has to be separated so this in itself was not completely unfamiliar. Finding the proper garbage bags has been very challenging. There are different garbage bags for “regular” garbage and “food” garbage and I could not find them at the local Family Mart. Josh tried asking one of the girls working there for garbage bags one day and she gave him a toothbrush.

I went back there today with “food garbage” programmed into my phone (it has a translator) and the woman I talked to looked for the garbage bags and could not find them. I finally took a picture  of the “pink bag” and went to the local convenience store which is just outside of our apartment building. I asked him first and he knew what they were and pulled them out of a drawer. He must have thought I was nuts because I was practically jumping up and down when he pulled them out.

The apartment complex has a room for all of the recycling and garbage and there is a special container for the “food garbage” where you can open up a sealed door (with your room key) and dump in the food. This has been broken since I have arrived. This area was also literally “overflowing” this past weekend since it was a holiday (Lunar New Year). I didn’t dare go to the “garbage room” – the smell was pretty bad. Yuck.

On the plus side I think it is great that such an emphasis is put on recycling.

Laundry
Though the apartment complex we live in is brand new it did not come with a dishwasher, dryer, or garbage disposal. In this sense I was very spoiled in the U.S. because I am used to having all three. So to dry my clothes I have to use a drying rack. This in itself would not be so bad if my clothes were not so “crunchy” after they dried. I have tried fabric softener and it does not help. I brought several of my “velour sweatsuits” with me and those do not “air dry” very well at all. The controls are also all in Korean so using the correct setting is pretty much a guessing game. The washer does play a pretty tune when the wash cycle is complete. I have been told that some washers do this in the U.S. but it is new to me and pretty amusing.

Of course there are some things that I am not used to and it has nothing to do with being in South Korea. It has been a long time since I have lived in a building with an elevator. So today after I had properly disposed of all of my food garbage I did a small “victory dance” in the elevator because I thought I was alone. Then I looked up and saw the security camera which I had completely forgotten about. I wonder what the Korean Security guard thought of my performance.

Cheers to Lady Gaga! I wonder if I can find this song at the Karaoke Place.