Lists

When I am getting ready to move (well, or do anything exciting or whatever), I tend to make lists.
I probably get this from my dad, who always carries an index card with his itinerary and his important phone numbers in his shirt pocket.
Well, I'm tired of the lists I've been making this week (that always seem to have plane ticket and immigration at the top, ha, ha). So, I'm putting my energy into some different lists.

The things I will not miss about South Korea (at all)
1. The smells that waft up from the gutters, especially on warm days.
2. The pile of garbage that collects outside my front door.
3. The cockroaches that have opened a bar and a restaurant outside my front door because of the ample supply of wonderful treats.
4. The stares that I get walking down the street.
5. The idiocy that I feel when I walk into a store and don't know how to ask where to find the laundry soap or the cockroach spray (still don't know how to say these things).
6. The idiocy that I feel when I realize that I can ask to find the laundry soap or the cockroach spray in Spanish, but not Korean--and frankly, this doesn't help me one bit.
7. The majority of the children.
8. The spark that jumps from the electrical outlets if I do not plug in the converter just right.
9. The puddles on my floor from the refrigerator or the shower.

The things I will miss about Korea (at least a little bit)
1. The smells like the spicy mint soup and the spice shop and the sam gup sal restaurants.
2. The half-hour rides in taxis, and realizing that it has cost me seven dollars.
3. The walk to the corner store and back, in less than five minutes.
4. The two dollar lunches.
5. The endless markets.
6. The strange fish in the tanks, waiting to be eaten.
7. The adjumas.
8. The walk to school, watching different people and listening to some sermon or podcast or something.
9. The late night chats in the ghetto with my neighbors.

Yep, it has been a great year. But, I am ready to go home.