Three years away makes America seem almost as foreign as Korea once seemed!
Things we'll miss about Korea:
-Craig coming home for lunch every day
-the small-town/small-island feel
-the expat community
-the friends we've made
-heated floors
-I'll actually miss the driving: I like that I can park wherever I want or make a right-hand turn from the left-hand lane if I really need to and no one is going to get upset (no road-rage here). I don't think I ever did anything crazy while we were there but it was freeing to know that I could.
-speed cameras, I like those better than getting pulled over for speeding. Just send me my ticket in the mail, please.
-screen golf
-the "lock-n-lock" aisle at Home Plus (I should have stocked up on the wide variety of food storage containers when I was there, what Target has does not compare!)
-fast internet
-first-come, first-served health care (and it was cheap!)
Things we won't miss:
-people touching our children (although this has gotten better since the whole H1N1 thing)
-loud music in the stores
-mixing my own prescription drugs
Things we're excited about in America:
-being literate again!
-being in our own space (eventually, we have to find the right house first, of course!)
Things we're not excited about:
-rampant commercialism
-the thin plastic bags at the stores and that the cashiers pack one or two items per bag. I plan to keep using my re-usable bags but while I'm out of my routine right now I already have a massive collection of this obnoxious bags!
-loud music playing out of peoples cars (never once heard someone else's car stereo in Korea)
Things that are just weird:
-drive-through everything
-cable news everywhere you go
-I don't have to remember to get a coin for the shopping cart (I wonder how long it will be before I stop reaching into my pocket for a coin when I walk to the carts?)
It's almost embarrassing to take the girls out right now because to anyone who overhears them in the store, they must think that I've locked my kids in a closet for the past five years! They are so excited by all of the little things at the store (the race-car shopping carts, random products & produce, etc.).
