The cliche rings true, y’all:  it IS the little things.  In this case,it’s the little things that drive you absolutely crazy and make you want to hop a plane home early.  Over the past couple of months, a small collection of tiny inconveniences has reminded us that it’s definitely time to leave Korea when our contract is up in July.  Here are some of them, in no particular order:

1)  We used to have a really awesome little locally owned market about a block from our house.  It has been torn down and replaced with a 7-11,which carries nearly nothing we use.

2)  Korea (as a nation) has blocked Grooveshark, which was what made the fact that Korea didn’t have Pandora tolerable.  

3)  The super-delicious shabu-shabu restaurant near our house has closed.

4) The three grocery stores most convenient to my life no longer carry my brand of soda.

5)  The bathrooms at work are never heated in the winter, and the windows in them are perpetually open.  Since the apartment bathroom is not heated by our floor ondol system, it remains a winter wonderland as well.  I have taken to brushing my teeth in the bedroom, only actually stepping into the bathroom to rinse and spit.  

So, if you ever think to yourself, “Ric and Kelly look like they’re having so much fun in Asia; maybe they’ll never come home”, rest assured, dear reader, that you are wrong.  We will be back in the land of readily available online music and warm toilets before you know it.  Until then, we are holed up here, systematically eating our way through all of our holiday care packages and watching Bond films on TV.  

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Busan, Korea, Pet Peeves, Rant