Last Day in Korea

Today is our last full day in Korea. Movers are coming this afternoon to take away everything our schools have purchased, which is to say everything but cheap, plastic dinnerware and someone's discarded mattress I carried in from the parking lot. It is going to cost us 8 bucks (8,000 wan) to throw away the mattress. We will sleep on the mattress tonight and then get rid of it tomorrow morning.

Yesterday I had my last workout at my gym. To get there, I walked through the same neighborhood I jogged around my first week in Korea. Since then, I have walked that same rubber sidewalk painted with baby animals through snow, ice, wind and scorching sun. I probably received more stares that first day jogging than any other. No one jogs here through neighborhoods. I kept circling the same blocks and the same old men and taxi drivers peered on incredulously.


Yesterday, I received only minimal stares, or maybe it's just that I don't pay as much attention anymore. At any rate, students waved and said hi and one student's mom riding a bike even said hello and called me by my first name. Our corner shopkeeper saw me walking the baby in the Moby yesterday, trying to calm her down. I was able to speak enough Korean to tell him her name, when she was born, and when our flight is scheduled to depart. I felt progress had been made. Of course, later in the day when I went to close my bank account, the teller still felt the need to get the interpreter on the phone. No matter how long I stay, I am convinced I will always be a foreigner.

There have been many farewell dinners over the past week or so, most of which come with the dual purpose of meeting the baby now that her Korean-style 30 day isolation period is up. At every dinner people want to ask me what I have learned from living in Korea, or what is the one thing I will remember most fondly. Of course, the best part about living here has been strengthening my relationship with Sami and learning how to live a married life. That answer probably doesn't satisfy their nationalistic curiosity, so I just tell them I love and will miss the food. And it is true, the food is great. I hope that I kind find all of the ingredients I need to make Korean food in markets back in the states. I hope I can find kimchi. I won't be looking for soju.