Oh Korea

The times that I really miss home are few and far between. However, tonight was one of those times. I just got back from sitting in a park near my apartment for a while just staring up at the sky. It's dark out, and what few stars I could see through all the city lights were partially blocked by all the tall buildings around me. As much as I love this city, it feels like it has been forever since I have sat out on my front porch and looked at the stars without a building in sight or the sound of a car horn or traffic flying by. I'll be home on vacation in a few weeks, and as much as I don't want to wish my life away, I can't wait to be there. I can't wait to walk around in the grass without any shoes, play in the water hose with my niece, and grill out hamburgers in our back yard. It's amazing at the things you take for granted when you no longer have them. I'm sure one day when I leave Korea I will then too look back on my time here and miss so much. But for today, I just miss home.

It started out as an "I hate Korea" kind of day. First I went to the bank to try to get some type of ATM or debit card so I could get money out while I'm traveling in the next few weeks. I was told that they quit giving international debit cards out last month. I know this can't be true because a friend of mine just recently got one. This is where the communication lines get crossed and it would be quite helpful if I knew how to speak Korean. I got frustrated and left. I will attempt this process again in a few days. My next errand for the day was to buy a new iron as mine had died the day before. I go into Homeplus which is the equivalent of Walmart. Anyhow some of the aisles are roped off because they are restocking the shelves and moving some stuff around. Of course, the aisle with the irons was roped off. I found someone who worked there and told her I needed an iron and asked if she could just grab me one. She proceeded to tell me no and that if I wanted an iron I could come back on April 30th to buy one as they would then be finished doing whatever they were doing to their shelves. Could you imagine walking into a Walmart back home and them telling you that you couldn't buy something because they were rearranging their shelves? I could have walked over and grabbed the iron. I could see all of them directly in front of me. The only thing separating me from my iron was a rope and a sign written in Korean. I will never understand their business logic here. All I wanted to do was give them money and take home a product I could see directly in front of me.

By this time I was really frustrated so I decided I needed to head down to the beach and relax and clear my head. I took my new precious little animal, Marley, with me. It was his first trip to the beach and he was SO funny! He wasn't quite sure what to do with the sand other than eat it. I was distracted with trying to play with him and a huge ocean breeze picked up his carrying case and my beach mat and sent it straight into the water. By the time I turned around and realized what had happened, two very nice Korean men in business suits were in the water fishing both things out for me. I started thinking Korea wasn't so bad at this point and was reminded of how kind hearted most of the people are here toward foreigners.

Not too much else happened today. I worked. I only had to teach one class tonight so that was a blessing in disguise. I then hung out with Jason and watched old episodes of my favorite television show. All in all the day started out rough, but proved to be great by the end of it. Tonight as I sat outside attempting to look at what few stars I could find, I was reminded of how I'm here to do God's will. Mornings like today are nothing more than distractions. Regardless of how bad I think it gets at times and how frustrated I feel, I have to walk right through it and keep on walking in order to not miss out on any opportunities. If I spend my time complaining about all of the bad moments I have here in Korea, I won't see all of the wonderful blessings that are right in front of me. Yes, at times I might miss home and crave normalcy, but what I have right now is such a gift and I don't want to wake up one day only to realize that I wasted my time here by only wishing for the future.