ROK vs USA

ROK vs USA Round 1: Lotte Mart/Emart/HomePlus vs Wal-Mart

Like any good American I used to have a thing for Wal-Mart; thing as in stuff is cheap and back when I should have been on food stamps, Wal-Mart was where I bought the eggs. Then I became a bit more conscious to their less than favorable morals and work ethics and tried to limit myself from going there. I mean I really didn't care to support a company where women could never be promoted and when a store came into town it shut down all the little mom and pop places that NC is so famous for. ANYWAY, most of Americans lovehatelikeloathecantlivewithout Wal-Mart so I use this as an example. But oh Wal-Mart, how you would lose in Korea. Not when there is Lotte Mart or E Mart or HomePlus. No no my little smiley face friend, you could not thrive and jive as you do in my beloved home. Folks, I bring you...Lotte Mart.

Lotte Mart has me salivating where as Wal-Mart makes me want to cringe. This beloved store is one of three major stores in Korea and it just happens to be my favorite. 

Sure Wal-Mart you've got a McDonalds/Subway, a wee little bank, a nail salon, and an eye doctor all right there in the front of the store, but Lotte (hold onto your pants people) has a pet store, a spa (massages/Dr. Fish/nails/mud masks), a restaurant or three, lockers to store your things, mini versions of your favorite cosmetic stores, and to top it all off their customer service is the shiz. I mean really. There is no denying it. 

Wal-Mart has those adorable elderly people there ready to welcome you so it's hard to say this because I, well, love old people...but Lotte Mart has men in suits bowing to you when you walk in. Lotte=win

There are at least two employees in each section, whether it be bedding, outdoor gear, school supplies, grocery, cleaning supplies, appliances, qtips, or shoes, at all times. They greet you then watch you the entire time you're in their area waiting to pounce if you get a quizzical look on your face. 

One of the greatest fears in America is the WM parking lot around Christmas. Cars screeching down rows, mothers screaming, running after their children. It is HORRIFIC. Not so at Lotte. There is no parking lot. No no my dear ones. There's a multi level parking deck on top of the store. As you know Korea is a peninsula (did you know that?) so they build up instead of out here. Genius. Instead of miles and miles of parking lots, they just add parking to the top or bottom of the store. 

Oh no! Did you have to drive to the top level of the parking deck? No worries, just hop on the escalator. Yep, ride that bad boy all the way to level 1. 

Once you're in and you want to go to a different level then just ride a different set of escalators that are cart friendly and within the cash registers. FOR MY WHOLE FOODIES: like all stores here they charge you for the use of their bags. Therefore, bring your own and save 100W or so. You know how WM bags one item per bag. Not done here. You bag it yourself and as a former cash register girl, I have no complaints about this. Neither do the Koreans. Bag your own stuff people.

yay Lotte.

WTW: Taxi Drivers aka The Koreans Born Without Fear

Now I know I've talked about driving before, but taxi drivers...they are a different story. These are the men and women of Korea who are born without fear, perhaps without souls, I'm not sure. I've not had the greatest luck with these guys. I've ridden in my fair share of taxis here and the first ten times were when another person spoke to the driver, giving him the appropriate Korean or Konglish. However, lately I've grown a bit bolder nay braver and welcomed adventure where it is (bolder, braver, stupider, whatever). This boldness and bravery has led to a bit of frustration and laughter in the pass few weeks, so for this WTW I bring you-The Taxi Driver.

The green light changes to green and he doesn't stop. The rain pours against his window, obscuring his view, and he accelerates into the curve. The leather seats in the back have just been cleaned and glossed and the waygook in the back flies to the other side of the cab, arms and legs flailing. It's just another taxi ride in the city. When you see that little bullet of silver with a light on top you know it's a car that means business. I have a love/hate relationship with these little cars. Their cabs are clean. It doesn't reek of smoke, or nasty people. Seats are leather and the TV is always on. TV?! Oh did I not mention that before? Drivers have a little TV mounted next to their GPS so they can drive and watch TV at the same time. Convenient, no?

A few of my own experiences in a taxi for you:
A couple of weeks ago my friend Aimee and I went into the city for Seollal. After a brief stint of shopping we decided it was time to head to the hotel. It was raining, we were tired and didn't want to walk to the subway stop. The question "want to take a taxi" was a question that made the evening all the more interesting. After a short call to a friend to get the Korean for our hotel, we hopped into the taxi. After pronouncing EVERY WORD CORRECTLY the taxi driver still asked, "What? Where?" in Korean. After a few more attempts, Aimee and I exited the taxi. We made a dash for taxi round 2. This time I tried different directions. YMCA 가 주 세 요 (take me to the YMCA please).  He repeated, "YMCA?" You got it buddy. That's the one. Take me there. To the YMCA.
We started driving in the right direction and I relaxed thinking that I had mastered the taxi. Then, 10 minutes later we turn down a dark alley. Good feeling gone. We pull to a stop in front of the YWCA. Oh for the love of God. I say to him "No, yMca" I point to the building and say, "yWca" this happens a few more times, all the while the driver points to the building saying, "ne, yogi" (yes, here). Yogi yogi yogi!! Finally he points angrily to the fare screen which means, "look girls, you're on your own. Now get the hell outta my cab." Aimee and I get out, in the rain, in a dark alley, in a part of town I've never seen. About five seconds later I look down the alley at the taillights of the cab and say to Aimee, "My umbrella is in the back of that taxi."

Then last week on my way to the radio station to record the show (which was awesome by the way!) I grabbed a taxi. As he crosses the three lanes of traffic to retrieve me, he almost side swipes another car. This should have been my warning. Is it bad that I'm numb to the horn blowing and almost car crashing? I get in and tell him where to go and he has no clue what I said. That's okay, I brought the Korean with me too. He glances at it a few times...a few times more...sucks in his breath and says, "okay okay" in English. I was too busy thinking about the show and being nervous about being on the radio to look at where we were going. Mistake #2 of the night. Then after about 15 minutes I start to notice that this taxi driver has no idea where we are going. I can't help him. I've never been there either and there is that whole language barrier thing. Two equally lost people, one who loves the brakes so much the other is a bit carsick. Finally, he pulls to the side of the road, asks a pedestrian the equivalent of, "where the hell is this?" in Korean. Something I have never ever ever of evers seen or heard of happening. Aren't taxi drivers like a walking GPS? Don't they have a GPS? Shouldn't it be a requirement that you know every freaking neighborhood in your city before you get behind the wheel of a taxi? How is it that I manage to hail the only taxi drivers in the entire city who don't know where the hell they're going!? I digress. He stops in front of another building hesitantly asks, "okay?" Sure. Okay. I HAVE NO CLUE! It's your job to know the city. I get out and after a more competent taxi ride, I arrive at the freaking radio station. Late.

Not all taxi experiences are bad. I've done well a few times and without any help. Taxi drivers have usually been kind and patient with me and I'll be damned if some of them aren't the best drivers I've ever seen (breaking road laws aside). I'm never freaked out by the drivers themselves as they are never very shady characters. Also, it's freaking cheap to take a taxi. A recent ride was $8 and Aimee said it would have been $22 in Chicago. I do love a good deal people. Taxis, love them or hate them, I couldn't live without them.

Some Idle Tuesday

Yesterday I got into a taxi, told the driver where I wanted to go, gave him the paper with the Korean directions when he didn't understand me, and rode to the radio station. It was raining, it was a Tuesday, and I realized that I had developed a life in Korea. It was one of those moments that slaps you across the face; an unexpected realization that either makes you gasp, cry, or grin. I laughed. The taxi driver flicked his up in the rearview to see if he had picked up a crazy girl taken to laughing at nothing.

When I moved here I had expected to make friends, make plans with those friends, and have a general schedule. I don't think I was expecting to make a life, a little home for myself. As for most expats here in Korea, our stay is temporary. We make friends, make plans with those friends, but all the while in the back of our minds is the thought that this isn't our real life. Our real life is back home in the States, in Canada where our friends are, our families. We left a life that we'll go and pick up right where we left it. Korea is just Korea, a place and time that is short in the length of our lives. It's just a year or two and then we get back to real life. But when did that thought start? I had the "Korea is a break from reality" thought on the plane crossing over here. Hell, I had the same thought on Monday. Why is that we don't really think to create a life here? Because it isn't home? Because we are always foreigners and we could never blend in?
We live in this country, teach during the day, travel during the weekend, and always know where are suitcases are, waiting to be re-packed eight months from now.

But what if life happened? In the back of a taxi on some idle Tuesday, I laughed because life was happening. It wasn't a temporary life I was living anymore. I hadn't realized I was living with a temporary mindset until I was in the back of that taxi. Now, I know I'll be moving back someday. In eight months my bags will be packed and I'll have a ticket to the States in hand, but that doesn't mean I need to live everyday  thinking that. I like the idea of becoming known in your community, doing something besides the expat tourist lifestyle, and I've been extremely blessed with the opportunities to make my stay here a bit more homey and less like a transient one. I'm doing things here that I would never have done in the States. Things that make me feel more like a resident and less of an alien registration card holder. I'm working on an article for the foreigner community magazine in Gwangju and last night I was interviewed for community hour at the English radio station. Another NC girl and I were asked to talk about local NC music.

No, Korea will never be home. Never ever. There are days when I call my friends and tell them I'm sick of how everybody is trying to run me over in the streets. But I was also sick of seeing myself in a life that was too transitional. True I've moved six times in two years. I want to be able to live here, in a strange place, and not think about when I'll be leaving. I want to forget where I put my suitcases and not think to myself every time I buy something, "how am I going to pack that when I go home?" It's a lesson I never learned back home and, ironically enough, I'm learning it here. In Korea. Don't live a life wondering where you'll be next, but be content with where you are placed. Thanks Korea for life lesson #83 you've taught me.  Lesson #84 is going to be to look both ways before crossing the SIDEWALK.

Life certainly has caught up with me here. So, the reason I've been absent is as follows:
a TEFL course that is sucking out my soul
Seollal- Korea's New Year and largest holiday that left me with a few days off and lots of traveling
my aspirations in becoming a published author means writing an article for the Gwangju News and is taking priority over my blog these days

So please, love me as Korea opens up her arms to me a bit more and gives me opportunities to create a life here.