Missionaries (7/8/19)

Yesterday I was visited by two Korean ladies who turned out to be missionaries. I opened the door to them because I expected that they wouldn't speak English and that would be the end of it. Also, I was a little interested in whether or not this sort of thing was different in Korea than in the U.S. It turns out that they did speak English (and were specifically targeting our mostly-American neighborhood) and a visit from missionaries is exactly the same as in the U.S. Having made the mistake of engaging them, I figured it would be interesting to hear what they had to say.

This is what I was told: they were theology students from the 'Church of God' and they had homework, which was to show me a 3-minute video. That didn't seem too bad. The video began by telling me that there are "hidden secrets in the Bible which will now be revealed." Definitely a red flag. The "hidden secret" is that the word used for God many times in the Old Testament is Elohim, a Hebrew word which is the plural form of El, meaning God. So God is not 'God' but 'Gods'. So far, so good. I was taught that the plural term is used because God is triune: God the father, God the son, and God the holy spirit. But no, this turns out not to be correct. The plural word is used in the Bible because there are two Gods--God the Father and God the Mother. Oh boy! The justification for this "hidden secret" is from Genesis 1:27 where "God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." So since there are two genders for people there must be two gods, one for each gender. Interesting. I made the mistake of saying as much, because that is an interesting and creative (and I believe wrong) interpretation of that verse. However, my missionaries took my saying "interesting" as an invitation to continue. 

For some unexplained reason the fact that there are two Gods is also a reason to say that churches should only be called Church of God, nothing else. Churches that are called by other names are not only wrong, but they are a threat to the true church, which is, obviously, their own church. Of course. At this point, I glanced at my watch and it really was time for me to go pick up my husband and son on the base. I didn't get out of the visit without exchanging phone numbers, but fortunately my phone wasn't able to call the missionary's phone and vice versa. I'm hoping that's the end of it. There was left open the possibility of another visit on Thursday afternoon, but I think I will probably have some errands to run around that time...

Korean culture, we were told, is very polite and Koreans are extremely reluctant to say 'no' outright. However, I don't really want to be a target for this sort of evangelism. Later on I asked my neighbor, who is Korean but married to an American, about this visit. She said actually Korean culture is changing and it is now acceptable to be firm in rejecting these sorts of visits. Korea, for whatever reason, is more open than many Asian countries to non-traditional religions. Although Buddhism is still prevalent, there are many, many other religions here. Unfortunately, this means that there are also problems with the more cult-like religions too. I do find other beliefs interesting, but I also have other things to do with my time so I think I won't answer the door to missionaries again. 

Parking and Traffic Tickets (11/22/19)

Traffic laws seemed to be enforced extremely sporadically in South Korea. There are lots of speeding cameras and stop light cameras around, but these are well-labeled and people usually slow down or stop as needed just around the enforcement area. Otherwise you seem to be free to run any unmonitored red lights and go as fast as you like between the speed cameras. Parking is also almost never regulated and as long as you're not blocking a major road you can park where and how you like.

The one exception I've discovered is the parking in front of the building where I go to visit the chiropractor. It turns out you cannot park there, but must use the underground garage or park somewhere else. The only reason I know this is because I got a parking ticket in the mail. I guess it would be too much effort to post a No Parking sign. Even if it was in Korean I would be able to recognize it. They use standard international road signs.

Unfortunately, they send parking tickets to the address you registered your car under, and the address we had to use was our APO address. This is a U.S. address so the ticket went all the way to the U.S. and then back over to Korea to our post office box. By the time this happened it was already past the due date on the ticket. Also, it was all in Korean so I had no idea how to pay it.

I asked my brother, who has Korean relatives and has also lived in Korea how I could go about paying my ticket. It turns out you go to... the bank! I never would have guessed that. But what do you know, I went to the Korean bank on the army base and they were not at all surprised to be handed a parking ticket. However, they couldn't do anything about it being past the due date. There's a number you can call to get a new ticket number and due date and if I gave them those they could help me pay it. I was assured that the people I spoke to would speak English, so there would be no problem.

Sure enough, the lady who answered the phone did (sort of) speak English. Enough to pass me on to someone else who spoke better English. They confirmed my ticket number, told me I actually had two parking tickets(!), and said they would text the relevant information to my phone. However, it has been more than a week and so far nothing. Everything in a foreign country is just a little more difficult than expected, and this is no exception!

To be continued...

The second parking ticket arrived in the mail, as well as a bill for a toll fee we accidentally didn't pay. (Unless you're already familiar with how toll booths work it's not easy to figure out which lane you're supposed to be in while traveling at high-ish speeds.) There was no fine for the unpaid toll fee, they just want us to pay what we would have paid, which is great. However, we had the same problem as earlier. By the time the tickets get to us they're already out of date.

I did some searching around on expat forums to see how much trouble we would be in for three unpaid tickets. Apparently not much at all. In fact, the only time they will come after you for the fees is if or when you sell your car. This leads to a bit of a problem with abandoned, license plate-less cars. The perfect get out of jail free plan! We still fully intend to pay the fines, but it sounds like it's not an urgent situation. We can wait until the holidays are over anyway.

Final Update:

We got new tickets in the mail for all three fines. This time we were given two months to pay them, which left almost a month by the time we got them. There were no new late fees beyond the original ones (about $4 for each of the parking tickets.) I went over to the Korean bank on base and paid them. From the original tickets we received in November, we were able to finally pay them off by the beginning of March!

Things I Want (But Really Don't) 11/22/19

From what I can tell, Korean society is still very hierarchical. Therefore, there are certain people you just do not say no to, especially doctors and ajummas. An ajumma is a lady of a certain age, maybe past age 50 or so, who takes on the role of matriarch. In the six months we've been here, both doctors and ajummas have told me that I need a lot of things that I actually don't. Not being the most assertive person, I've ended up with them anyway. Here is a list:

1. Prescriptions. Korean doctors love to give you medicine. I have seen the doctor several times for upper respiratory infections. Even when it turns out you don't have an infection, they still load you up with several different decongestants and allergy medicines. I've never left the doctor with fewer than four new prescriptions. Fortunately, they're quite cheap here, but unfortunately, they never ask what you're already taking or if you're allergic to anything. So I usually can only take about half of what they give me, if that. Also, if you do get a chance to say you can't take a particular medicine they will happily substitute another rather than not give you anything. One doctor gave me two different opioid medications because he didn't have the anti-inflammatory medicine I requested. In spite of very strict illegal drug laws, it would be quite easy to become a legal drug addict here! (I have no intention of becoming a drug addict.)

2. A new haircut. I have had three haircuts here, all of them failures. When I ask for "just a trim" I get something completely different. I'm honestly stumped on this one, I think I'll just grow my hair out.

3. Alterations. I needed a dress altered and had three things I wanted done to it. The alterations ladies agreed to two of them, but refused to do the third. It would have been way too expensive in their opinion. I was not allowed to disagree. This is an interesting business model!

4. Personal directions to a pharmacy. I have two neighbors who are Korean-American ladies married to Americans working here. They definitely qualify as ajummas, in attitude if not in age. I asked one of them if she could tell me where I could find a pharmacy (to get a prescription I actually wanted). She started to tell me but then decided what I really needed was her to take me there. I was told to get my keys and she hopped in my car to direct me there herself. Also, we had to stop at the ATM so that I could pay cash. I was even told exactly how much to take out. Maybe if I really insisted that I couldn't do it right then I could have gotten out of this hostage situation, but I'm really not all that assertive. It was an adventure! I didn't end up with any medicines in the end, though.

5. Fancy bandages. I cut my finger one afternoon while I was home alone prepping dinner. I tried to get a band-aid on but it was in an awkward place and was bleeding a lot. I went next door and asked my other Korean neighbor if she could help me. The band-aid I brought with me was deemed inadequate and I had (to her horror) neglected to bring any disinfectant with me. I left her house thoroughly disinfected and with a very well-bandaged finger!

Funny Appendix: In the end it turned out this neighbor didn't remember that we had moved in next door. So from her perspective a strange white woman suddenly showed up at her door with a hand covered in blood asking for help. I can't imagine how weirded out she must have been! However, she was still quite kind and we sorted things out before I left. Since then she's been quite friendly.

Onions (6/12/19)

This afternoon, needing a break from studying, I decided to take a short walk. I remembered that there were a few shops a little way down the road from our neighborhood and also that we could use an extra onion for dinner. So off I went to see what I could find. There was, indeed, a little convenience-type shop down the road that had two onions in stock. They were packaged together and the price on the package said 1000 won (about a dollar). However, I did not look at the price before I went to pay. I had a 10,000 won bill in my pocket and handed it to the man at the register. I waited for some change but he didn't offer me any, he just said thank you (in Korean). I assumed that I was paying for the 'convenience' and walked out with my onions. However, on the way home I did take a look at the price tag and realized what had happened. I felt pretty stupid, but chalked it up to a learning experience.

We know four people here who are Korean by birth but now American citizens living back here in Korea for one reason or another. They've all been super helpful getting us settled and adjusted here. I texted one of them to tell her the story, thinking it would just be a funny anecdote. However, she was appalled. She couldn't believe "that someone would do that to a neighbor!" I was surprised at that reaction. First, that this sort of thing is uncommon enough to be so appalled at, and secondly that the injustice in the situation was done against a neighbor. Not a fellow human being, or a foreigner, but a neighbor. That's what made it so wrong in her estimation. I got many follow-up texts telling me the Korean phrases I needed to know to (in future) ask for a receipt, ask for change, and the words for 1000 won and 10,000 won. I am fully prepared now to try again! However, I don't think I'll try that shop...

The other two people, a couple, we told the story to were equally shocked. They have better English and assured us that this sort of thing hardly ever happens to foreigners and also very rarely to other Koreans either. They gave us the name and location of a better shop close by that "has much better and much fresher produce." At the moment we're buying most of our food on the Army base just for convenience, but I do want to eventually do more shopping locally. I'll try the recommendation, the onions I got weren't even good!

UPDATE: We had lunch with some of the friends mentioned above a few days later. After lunch one of them insisted that we drive over to the store to make things right. I really did not want to do that but it turns out that it is also very hard to say 'no' to Korean grandmas. So off to the store we went and she had a long conversation with the clerk. Since I only know a few individual words in Korean I had no idea what the conversation was about. It didn't sound angry or accusatory on either side though. At one point the clerk held up the two different bills involved thinking that maybe I wasn't familiar with the currency. By that point I was feeling so stressed out by the whole situation that I couldn't remember exactly which one I had used. In the end, however, I got 9,000 won in change (about $7.00) but I'm not totally certain I should have it!

UPDATE 2: The other couple in this story has given us some farm-fresh onions and garlic to make up for this incident too. Also, I think they had more than they can use. However, it seems to be way more than we can use either!

Our New House (5/24/19)

The base John will be working on is seeing a huge population explosion. As a result, new housing is being built all around the base and the Pyeongtaek municipal area. However, finding a house is a quite different process than in the U.S.

For foreigners, at least, realtors are also property managers. Each of them only has a set list of properties that they will show you since these are the properties they also manage. If you want to see something else you have to find a different realtor. However, in reality, our first realtor had more than 50 properties to show us and we only looked at 10 before I reached overload. They were almost all really great and choosing between them was the biggest challenge.

Pyeongtaek and the surrounding area has been up until now primarily a farming area. Most Koreans live in cities, but the Americans that are moving here is large numbers generally prefer a less urban environment. So the most preferable houses around here, according to our realtor, have a view of either a rice paddy, gardens, or an orchard.

Our rent will be paid up front in one lump sum each year we live in the house. This payment will include all utilities, appliances, as well as internet and yard care. If I understood correctly, Koreans pay rent much differently: they pay between 70-100% of the value of the house and then get the money back when they move out. Needless to say, Korean's don't usually rent houses! We did have to pay an extremely small down payment to secure the house: only $200

More things are negotiable in the process of forming the contract than we would be able to do in the States. We can negotiate on the yearly price and any furniture we might want to have. We can request renovations can be made to the house. For example, we need more bookshelves, so we can ask the landlord to build some for us. Korean ovens are very small so our realtor will see if we can get a bigger one installed. If the standard super-fast internet is not sufficient we can ask for even faster internet. If we need a new washer and dryer the owner will install them for us. All of these things (if the owner agrees, and he or she would be unlikely to disagree) would be done under the same yearly rent we pay. There would be no extra charge. 

Update: As it turns out, the owners pushed back a bit more than we expected, or we didn't negotiate well enough. We did get the fastest internet and a new washer and dryer, but did not get bookshelves or a bigger oven. However, the owners did come by in June to plant flowers in our yard and they came back in October to give us a super nice air filter (an absolute necessity here) and also a dehumidifier for one of the rooms that was developing a mold problem. So all-in-all, not too bad.

Now that we have settled on a house our realtor helped us create a list of things we would like done to the house before moving in. He cautioned us that we might have to wait to move in in order to get it all done. But 'waiting' meant we couldn't move in this weekend (today is Friday) we might have to move in Wednesday instead. Since we can hardly get all the U.S. government paperwork done in that time we weren't too concerned!

Here are some initial pictures:

One of our views is of a garden. On the other side of the house in the distance are lots of rice paddies.

The houses are almost all very square and boxy. But much cozier-looking inside than you would think.

Simon's favorite feature was the pop-up electrical outlet on one of the kitchen counters. It is pretty cool, honestly!

Entertaining Signs (5/30/19)

As happens when any language is translated into another, odd results may occur. This post is not meant in any way to make fun of the people who made the signs, of course. They're doing much better in English than I could do in Korean, and it does seem as if some of the wording is on purpose. So these are just signs that made us smile for one reason or another.

Zoom into the picture on the left of the haircut sign.

It's a gas station, but you wouldn't realize it immediately from the sign.

In philosophy this problem is called a performative contradiction. You can't actually say, for example, "I don't exist". So does this brand exist or not?

Is this an acceptable place to change money or only average?

Not a normal combination, but whatever works for you! (Actually, with the benefit of 7 month's experience, this is indeed a normal combination for Koreans. Who knows why!)

A very insistent bathroom use instruction.

First Visit to the International Clinic (5/30/19)

Simon needed a school physical for the preschool here on the Army base, and it was recommended that we go to one of the international clinics in Pyeongtaek. This involved a bus ride to and from and some different experiences in medical care.

The clinic was at a local hospital, and rather than being a separate medical service, the staff simply pre-arranged visits to the various departments for us and translated when necessary. For a basic child physical Simon was scheduled for an eye exam (with an ophthalmologist) and an EKG. Neither of which are part of a normal exam in the States.

The EKG machine didn't use disposable stickers like the ones we usually see. Instead there were clamps put on Simon's ankles and wrists and suction cup things put around his heart. He said the suction cups hurt a bit.

After the eye test and the EKG we saw a pediatrician. He had a cool ear-examining tool that showed the ear drum on a screen. Simon thought that was super interesting. Then we had an in-depth discussion of his height and weight (adjusted to American standards, which the doctor had to look up in a book) including what we can expect his final size to be, with the equation drawn out for us. It's something like: (dad's height + mom's height + one other variable)/2. This was news to us! Also his BMI says he is under the average weight, but when we showed concern they said the only problem is if he is overweight. That can't possibly be true, but we're pretty sure he's healthy anyway. 

It's interesting what Korean's considered to be essential to a health check-up as opposed to what Americans think is essential. Also, all of this only cost $42.21! They don't bill our insurance so this was the total bill.

All done and waiting for the bus home! The hospital is in the background and Simon is eating some Korean crackers for kids. He thought they were great, personally I was not a fan.

Hotel Adventures (6/6/19)

We moved into our house a couple of days ago, and although we are still waiting for most of our things, we are so happy to be out of hotels. We spent one month and four days in a total of three different hotels. This was a particular challenge since we had a three year old to occupy in less-than-ideal conditions. Here are some of the things we did to keep Simon entertained.

In the first hotel we had an oven so we could make his favorite breakfast.

Special water markers that won't color on anything but the books they came with!

A visit with friends to Chocolate World in Hershey, PA

And of course a chocolate milkshake afterwards!

A visit with some other friends to a really great playground in Havre de Grace, MD

The Washington Zoo with Grandma, complete with merry-go-round ride

The post Exchange has some great rides for kids all around the mall area.

There is a tank museum next to the base hotel. These go boom-boom!

Lots of playgrounds on the base

We mailed some of Simon's toys to our new address. This was the first thing he made when he opened his Legos. I'm not really a fan, but we are on an Army base after all!

No one had a problem being pew pew-ed around here!

Puzzles with Dad

We can no longer hang on to our quarters, they go right into the rides!

There is a huge water park on base. Simon is once again pew pew-ing, this time with a water cannon.

Our Nerf gun collection has increased. Thankfully, this time he's shooting a Lego monster instead of mom or dad.

To avoid being constantly shot at, I invented Nerf Gun Bowling with disposable cups. A big hit!

This fountain had music playing and the water squirted up in time to the music.

Another favorite treat: olives. Simon also discovered vending machines and the treats available in them. I was happy to feed him olives to balance out the chocolate chip cookies!

Did I mention the super great playgrounds yet?

Simon learned a new skill: dot-to-dots. We also found out just how much a perfectionist he is. One mistake and the paper gets scribbled on and thrown away.

Simon's first swim lesson! In addition to playgrounds there are multiple pools on base.

We found a good climbing tree next door to the hotel.

In our new house! We won't get furniture for a couple of days so we're having picnic meals in the dining room for now.

Trying Again

Hi everyone,

Many people have had problems accessing our blog for one reason or another. In the end, the best solution I could find was to just delete the old blog and start fresh. I'm hoping that solves the difficulties. I will repost all of the old posts with the original publication date. Please let me know if this new blog still gives you problems!