Sunday 24 February 2013

You know when..... List Mania #1

To lighten to mood after my previous maudlin offering, allow me to attempt something more entertaining.

Here is a list of occurrances which cause an ex pat to pause and exclaim, "Wow! I have been here waaaay too long!"
  • You don't even realise you've bowed until you are on the way back UP!
  • You and your friend belatedly realise that ye've spent the last five minutes eating your french fries with chopsticks.
  • You drink Brown Rice Tea.   Deliberately.
  • I see a picture like this :


and think "Yum!!" rather thank "Eeeewwww!"

  • We're watching a K drama where the hero dashes into the apartment to rescue his fair heroine  and we all sigh happily and exclaim, "Look! He's really worried about her! He didn't stop to take off his shoes!!"
  • All the coffee shops within a two block radius of my school (and trust me, that's a lot more than you'd think!) they all know that I take my  Cafe Mocha with no whipping cream.
  • I find myself in a taxi cab which DOESN'T have Wi-Fi and this is such a rare occurrance that I'm more than a little discombobulated. "What? You mean I CAN'T watch YouTube on my mobile phone right now?  I don't understand!"
  • I can bellow 'Chug i oh!" across a restuarant to get the waiters attention with only the smallest twinge of embarrassment.
  • All my exclamations of surprise, shock, frustration etc are now in deliciously onomotopoeic Korean.
  • You see a news announcement about an actor coming out of his two year military service and realise that you were around to see him go IN!  (Hyun Bin Ah! I'm gazing at you!!)


  • You know and recognise the specific sound of the wind soughing through a bamboo thicket (and I wonder if I'll ever be here long enough to not immediately think of 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon')
  • After two years of drinking light and delicate green tea, rice tea, chrysanthemum tea and the like, the robust and boisterous Irish tea is to be approached with extreme caution.
  • Triple parking barely even registers with you.
  • You handle the commute on Korean buses with all the balance and grace of a seasoned snowboarder.
  • You find yourself going to Indian and Vietnamese restuarants in the forlorn hope of encountering a pea.
  • You find yourself going to Indian and Moroccan restaurants for a taste of 'Home'.

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