Korean moments

I forget I live in Korea most of the time. I think growing up in a city might have helped. Plus, it's a developed country so some of the comforts of home are available. But, sometimes, when I least expect it, I have "Holy (expletive)! I'm living in Korea!" moments. These moments happen usually when I'm able to just be still and am not rushing to get somewhere.

Like, when I'm at a movie theater and I get to the counter to buy a ticket and instead of just giving it to me, I have to wait while the girl smiles and does a little hand twirling dance, as she welcomes me to the theater in a sing-songey voice. Or, when I'm walking around with my 6'5 caucasion boyfriend, and a 3 year old boy starts pointing at him in awe and calling his mom to see. Or, when I see a rag doll like leathery old man, propped against his cart weighed down with recyclables, smoking a cigarette like it's his last breath, while everyone else walks past him. Or, when I go to a department store and am able to order 6 pairs of prescription glasses, have them made within an hour and a half, and have to only pay about $230 for all of them. Or, when I see a Quiznos and excitedly run to it and order, not because it's amazing food, but because it's been a month and an hour on the subway since I've been able to eat something "American." Or, when I go to a fish market and am told that there isn't actual food in the restaurants because you're supposed to go into the market, pick out your (live) food, and then bring it to the restaurant so the cook can chop it up and make it right on the spot, duh! Or, when at the same fish market we watch a fisher woman reach in a tub of octupi and put two in a green bag, as they cling to her wrist. These octupi we would later eat live as they squirmed and suctioned all over our plates.

These are my "Holy (expletive)! I'm living in Korea!" moments. They're rare, but when they happen they stop me dead in my tracks. They're dramatic, colorful, and assure me that I'm in the middle of a ridiculously great time in my life.