Adjusting

As I sit here on my uncomfortable camping chair night after night awaiting the arrival of my beloved couch I have been thinking a lot of all the things we are having to acclimate to. I decided to make a list.  Sorry, no pictures.  :(

1. Driving- I think I could make an entire blog post on the things that happen behind the wheel here!  And we don't even have the driving on the "wrong" side of the road to contend with!  But here are a few...or what I can think of right now.
- Running red lights.  Kind of cool actually!  Who wants to be stuck at a stupid red light when clearly no one is coming.  Koreans sure as heck don't, so they just run the red lights, unless there are cameras.
- Passing people. If the guy in front of you is going too slow, just pass them.  Doesn't matter if you have to drive on the wrong side of the road, or if you are diving a GIANT BUS, pass the slow poke! 
-Crazy delivery scooters.  These guys are NUTS!  They drive down the middle of the road between the two lanes of traffic, drive down the wrong side of the road, up and down sidewalks, and will turn in front of you, just assuming you will slow down.
-Right of way.  Don't think that is in their vocabulary.  I've found who ever either drives the biggest vehicle or has the most cajones wins!
-Police and other emergency vehicles always drive with their lights flashing.  I thought I was getting pulled over a few weeks ago for speeding and almost side swipping the poor police officer, (didn't see him until I was merging into his lane, then gunned old Handy Hooptie to get around police car and the guy in front of him) but it turned out they just always drive with their lights flashing.
-It is illegal for non-emergency vehicles to drive with their headlights ON during the day time.
(Side not about emergency vehicles.  There are NO fire hydrants!  Today I saw why. We drove pass a fire tanker truck!)
- Construction workers just assume you will watch out for them.  I've almost hit a few when they just stepped out from around a big truck.
- Kids are taught that if they hold their hand up above their head while crossing the street, cars will stop.  Apparently, adults forgo the hand above their head, and just cross expecting traffic to stop.
-Elderly people will be pulling carts full of food or cardboard boxes and just expect you to go around them no matter how busy and dangerous the street is. 
2.  Climate. Complete and utterly opposite of CA! I remember reading in Clint's Uncle Scott's book where he described the dryness of the desert and that if you leave a piece of bread out it will turn into toast because the moisture is sucked out of it. Well, opposite here.  I gave Clark a small bag of crackers and 20 minutes later they tasted like they had been left out all night.  I have to put the Oreos into a Ziplock bag otherwise they get all mushy and no longer keep their yummy flavor. It isn't uncommon for it to be 100% humidity especially in the morning and not have it raining.
3. Crowd Control. He who pushes the hardest or is the quickest wins!  When we took Clark to the Aquarium at the COEX mall, I would patiently be waiting for a spot to park the stroller next to a tank of fish.  Just as the person I was waiting for was leaving another person would step into the spot I wanted.  No regard to me or the stroller.  One man for himself!
Koreans also don't hold doors open for each other.  So while trying to navigate the stroller through doors by myself and through crowds I became very frustrated and glad we live in a more rural area with a very small population! It has to do with customs and etiquette. Two good sites to visit and read about.
4. Plumbing. TMI ALERT!!!  Seriously the toilets that wash you and dry you are totally awesome!!!  I feel like we have been living in the dark ages.  I might just have to buy one and then take it with us from house to house when ever we move because they are that cool.  Even Clark likes to use it!  Plus Korean plumbing is very 3rd world.  It isn't uncommon to have the waste basket next to the toilet for the toilet paper to go in. (DISGUSTING) Also there are many times while out that we find the squatting "toilets", you know, the sunken down bowl that you squat over.  Clark thinks these are really fun to pee into.  He hasn't had the opportunity to squat over one yet...
Maybe in an effort to be more eco-friendly, it also isn't uncommon to find places that don't have anything to dry your hands with, or a towel hanging.
Lastly, no one uses toilet seat covers. So depending on how you feel about that, you can either be just fine with it or not.  I know that much of even the US doesn't have covers for the public toilets.
Oh I almost forgot!  It stinks here!  Literally, it smells bad and worse in some areas!  They have an open sewage system, so you will often see open vents along the side of the street.  Not a big deal in town, but about once every week or so our house will completely transform into this sewage treatment plant smell and I can't figure out what triggers it.  Seems like it has happened when I have ran either the dishwasher or the washing machine.  Might have something to do with the fact that there are two more apartments above us.  Who knows.  Usually isn't a problem and not that it smells great here, it doesn't always stink, either that, or I have gotten used to it.
Oh and Paper factories smell like vomit!  Don't live next to one.  We don't but there is one in between here and Osan Airbase.  Just smells wrong on so many levels.
5. Kids. The Koreans LOVE kids. This has been great because even when Clark is being crazy, making a giant mess in a restaurant, or having a melt down, I don't get nasty looks from people.  He always gets a lot of attention.  Something that took a little getting used to, but now all of us are ok with some stranger coming up and touching his hair or the side of his face.  Clark was even picked up by some man, I think because he wanted to see how much Clark weighed. His hair color and curls attract a lot of attention.  At least going out to eat has been more fun because not only do the people working at the restaurants treat us nicely, but many times we can sit at one of the tables that are low to the ground and more Clark friendly.  We don't have to worry so much about him falling out of a chair and all of us seem to be more relaxed.
The bad part about Koreans' view on kids is their lack of car safety.  They don't have any concept of safe ways for kids to travel in cars.  It's very common to see kids just jumping around in the car with no seat belts.  I have seen kids in carsets, but in the front seat of a 4 door vehicle!  Lastly, NONE of their cars have any of the safety regulations that the cars in the U.S. do to accommodate car seats.
Now cars are often made with the LATCH system.  At the very least cars in the U.S. are made with some kind of locking device for their seat belts.  NOTHING like that here.  Our realtor had a fairly new car and there were no safety equipment for Clark's car seat.  My '99 truck had more then her maybe 2 year old car had!  Thankfully our car seat comes with locking devices that you can run the seat belt through.  I haven't checked the car seats here to see if the same system in in place, but I doubt it.

For the most part I feel like usually we are getting along just fine.  The difficulty mainly is not having our stuff!  I think all three of us are feeling "dis   place   ment"  HAHA.  It is an amazing thing how much your personal belongings make you happy.  When we first got here, Clint was reading a blog about someone living with the least amount of items as he could.  Clint and I though, yeah, we could do that!  But here we are 2 months into our minimalist lifestyle and we HATE it!  Even Clark is grumpy about it!  Well I think he just wants his cat!  Hopefully the crowds and Korean cultural differences will be easier to accept when we have our belongings and can feel more like we have a home instead of 4 walls we are camping in.  We did buy a PS3 and a BBQ this weekend and are feeling a little more normal.  Like right now Clint is playing video games while I get to blog. Our usual.  The BBQ did some transformation that enabled our cooking skills to return to us.  Seriously, the night we got the BBQ I went down to the local Korean market and bough some Mackerel.  It was the BEST meal we've had here.  Then tonight we made homemade tacos.  DELICIOUS!  It seemed like we were culinary retards until the BBQ was purchased.  We even bought a charcoal one because we have no idea where we would fill up propane tanks.  Hopefully the PX doesn't tell us we can't BBQ in winter the charcoal is "out of season."  HA!  There is no such thing as out of season BBQing. 

Say prayers or keep fingers cross or what ever in hopes that our household good arrive this week!