Oh, Korea!

Oh, Korea! It's something you say when living here in Korea. When you don't know what else to say, you say, "Oh! Korea!"--if the moment is beautiful, if the moment is frustrating, it's always a good response.

For example:
Yesterday we were returning from a day trip to the West Sea. The bus ride home was crowded. Thankfully, we got on at the first stop so we had seats. When new riders were picked up, they had to stand in the aisle. When standing in the aisle, they stand over you, literally, over you. The girl standing over me, was texting a lot. Her cell phone was always right in front of my face. Seriously. I do not lie. Zach kept getting whacked in the head by the lady who was near him with her shopping bags. It's a space thing. There is no such thing as space here so you say, "Oh, Korea!"

Or when you're walking down the street or even in the hallway in your apartment building and someone starts hacking, you know, because they need to cough something up, and they just spit, to rid themselves of the gunk, wherever they happen to be--right in front of you. It's disgusting, it's hard to get use to so I just say, "Oh, Korea!"

When we watch middle school aged kids leave their hagwon at 11:00pm at night, you can only say, "Oh, Korea!"

Our taxi rides in the morning are usually pretty uneventful. Occasionally, we get a taxi driver who would like to practice his English skills. I love these moments. Last week, our driver, was so sweet. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom and he kept pointing to them as we drove down the road. I then realized he wanted to know the English word for the tree. I said, "cherry blossom" and he repeated me, over and over with a huge smile. That was a beautiful, "Oh, Korea!" moment.

Oh, Korea! You are good to me.