bad attitude monday

how long things take to occur has always been an odd interest of mine. i am fascinated by the idea that you know something will happen, you just are not always sure of when. sometimes it is exciting (like waiting to have a baby) sometimes it is not (like now). in the spirit of that thought, this is the "we are all homesick now" blog which in no way should be taken to be a bashing of Korea or anything Korean and is a direct result of the reality of our situation kicking in...nothing is wrong and yes, this too will fade...it is after all still a great adventure.

12 things i hate about Korea:
1. no garage disposals. gross, dirty and irritating. i just want to grind things up and make them go away, i don't want to think about it. i know it is a good thing, these little red bags, but i dislike them too.
2. no drive thru anything. i am not a fast food fan but sometimes you just need to drive thru and get the kids McDonald's or for me Starbucks. shouldn't really matter though because we only have one car and since i cant drive without becoming irritated with the lack of oh i don't know any street signs to follow, i might as well just walk.
3. which leads to the constant sloping of streets and complete lack of accessibility for strollers, not to mention the delivery guys on scooters who drive on the sidewalk and come very, very close to hitting you all the time. its very noisy too with way too much traffic and not enough parking places.
4. no drive thrus should mean everyone who goes to Korea gets thin right? no, everyone will tell you its the opposite, which i am finding to be true. you find places like Paris baguette (my Korean panera bread) and dunkin donuts. i have never in my life even liked donuts but there i was on Sunday with ethan looking out the window drinking a coolata eating a donut like it was no big thing until the scale tormented me Monday morning. i have even been heard saying "i don't know why i am gaining weight" which is totally ridiculous. (by the way thanks for sending the chocolate mom).
5. FYI- Koreans are not the small short people everyone thinks they are. most are of average size, even taller than average alot of the time which is why it makes no sense that the stores only seem to cater to smaller women. i have yet to find this out first hand, but according to the other American expat women who are not large women, the store employees will say to you when you are looking for something "no large-ie" to let you know they do not carry anything in your size. rick likes to joke about this when we are out but i tell you what, this will not be a good day if it comes.
6. i don't really want a maid but it comes with the apartment and she is making me very paranoid by constantly looking irritated and trying to explain things to me in korean ( she speaks zero English).i believe the lesson i needed to learn today was how to place a rag on a mop. not sure if she thinks i dont clean when she's not there or if she's just sharing her cleaning knowledge with me. today i gave her chocolate so she would quit doing this and it seemed to work. maybe i can just fatten up all the Korean women and i will never have to dread the "no largie" incident that looms in the distance.
7. rick bikes to work and eats Korean food everyday for lunch so he is now winning the weight loss bet that has been ongoing for some time. should be happy for him but i am in a negative place and want to suggest we go to baskin robbins for dinner...
8. I've noticed that in addition to my hair constantly looking like crap because we live on the ocean and i don't know how to deal with it,and the extra pounds thing with my comfort food obsession that my skin is all messed up and breaking out too. speaking to one of the expat Americans about it today, she simply said "oh, yeah, we all go thru it, its like being a teenager again, don't know why" . great. loved my teenage years...
9. math. i hate math. maybe this is why i married rick because he loves math and will do it for me. i don't want to constantly convert dollars to won, kilometers to miles, Celsius to Fahrenheit, its never ending. make a mistake and i will end up spending 100 dollars on some cheap toy for Ethan.
10. one bathroom. went out with the ladies for a girls night out, accidentally spent 80 dollars (math!!!!) on a bottle of bad wine and had to share the bathroom with men all night because many bathrooms are set up this way. OK, i go to the bathroom alot when i drink. after awhile, i would see the same guys talking on their cell phones in the bathroom we were sharing over and over again. they were very helpful when the paper towels would run out or you needed soap...how wrong is that. worse than that, there is also a shower in the bathroom you share. who uses this? its called privacy, sometimes i need that.
11. combo washer and dryer-what a really bad idea. how tired am i of constantly washing clothes that never dry and i end of having to hang all over the laundry room so they can be "crisp" when you wear them. did i mention i have a baby? and a messy 4 year old? also, the little song it plays at the end was at first quaint, now just a reminder that its time to do more laundry.
12. sling box tv. sometimes a good thing, often irrating with constant lags and skips just when you are getting into something.

and last, certainly not least and probably the catalyst of this all is my family is not here. normally i would drink a glass of wine with my mom and complain about these types of things until we laughed and it all went away. she would give me advice on how to make it better or more often than not, she would just listen, know it meant nothing and go on like i never said a word about any of this. she would not feel i wasn't adjusting well or that i was depressed, she would know i am just blowing off steam, very therapeutic for me and life would go on to the next adventure. miss you mom...
now, i don't know what will help rick. he is attempting to drink soju (sweet potato vodka) for luck while watching the lions play in the other room. rick has not had a team win in 2 weeks. i guess all i can say is "go lions" and i cant believe I'm saying this but i even miss the constant flying of sports flags in front of our house, although I'm not sure the neighbors probably do...