Ex-pat Package Presents

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...Each morning the drivers pile their cars onto the sidewalk and the bit of asphalt in front of the company building. The small, always-chipper man directs them and calls out "Good morning" to me whenever he is not preoccupied with the morning rush. I haven't heard him speak any other phrase in English. Well! He doubles as a package delivery man for the editing office - and he dropped off the enormous, cumbersome, Tolstoy-novel heavy package to editing - which became a main character in the office - since someone was either blocked, inconvenienced or in awe due to its size, - with each remark I basked in my package glory. "Whoa, who got that big mama?" "Brie, it's in my way, can you shift it to the right?" "Jesus, what was in that thing? Cookies? RIGHT ON!" --- and this is from the diabetic Barry.
At the end of the day while joking "what was my mom thinking...sending me this massive beast?" Barry mentioned - she probably didn't mind paying so much postage since she would have bought me as much when I was home...and I responded saying - "ah, she might think this'll soothe my loneliness," - meant as a joke, and I tried to cover the awkward - too-much-information-for-office-banter- comment with - she wants to make sure I come home next year...But Barry caught it. He jumped on it in fact and said straight out, "Aw, are you lonely, really?" And of course, no one wants to admit or have their own social insecurities pointed out, or, appear in some way pitty-able, pitiable? *yikes, and to think I'm an editor*
But how could I possibly escape lonely hours, or even days here? In my own defense, I'm sure all of my college friends feel heavy-hearted now that we are no longer gathered together in academic and alcoholic pursuits. And I'm sure ex-pats occasionally turn sour - questioning the motives of friendships. A half-hearted but 100 % understood conversation becomes disguised as a true connection. But, in that sense, playful banter, or even an unexpected smile can smudge away most of the frustration that arises from the realization - "I don't relate to you..." it's often - I've never seen that Simpson's episode, I've never heard of your favorite band, I wasn't born when you witnessed that....all things that individually would crumble and barely scratch the surface of a friendship....But in context, and possibly just due to my own nit-picky social habits - it makes the day a bit grayer.
Of course, there's always the unrelated hysterical moments around me which I can easily substitute for that kind of validating friendship. (I have maybe 50 "what just happened?! Oh, I'm in Korea!" moments a day...so you can see why the substitution works).
For example, today - while at the post office, an old man decided he would send some sparrows to a friend by sticking the cage into a cardboard box. Like you do. No fear sparrow-supporters, he was intercepted and reprimanded, although he grumbled quite a bit and shook his head at the ridiculously high standards of the Korean post. At least, that's how I interpret his Korean grumbles.
Since this post is only a travel blog in the sense that I've swept you up and plopped you down on a few brie-thought-islands, I'll only include pictures of my room...other unworthy visuals 😊
Thanks for reading. love love love
cheeseface.

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Photos

Dark Wooden Beauty
From the African (Senaglese?) David - comes to the streets of downtown Daegu 9 months of the year to sell his family and friend's jewelry and Africa memorabilia...not that I've been to Africa, or seen the exhibit. But I have my wooden friend to encourage me to go someday.

Cheese Museum and Sleeping Quarters
You might not be able to see it clearly, but I have Christmas lights slashing the room, brightly colored scarves covering up any empty surface and scrap pieces of cloth hanging down over my bed. Commoners often feel dizzy in my room, they have not yet developed their eyesight to take in all of the colors of the spectrum.

Put your best foot in your mouth
or something like that...
new shoes for the winter months.
my mustard-orange moccasins have split on the ball of the foot and torn at the sides. I'm not as dedicated to these imitation converses...I still feel like a duck, but they save me from prissy boot fashion.

A New Jersey Relic Arrives in Asia
Sniff. *blows nose* I miss my family and my cats.

Cracks 'Em Up Every Time
Fishface. For the kids, of course. Not that I find any enjoyment in these kinds of childish face contortions. It's all ballyhoo.

Comments

[Eunjeong]

ex-pat presents?
isn't it the ex-pet presents? I don't understand... @.@

[Lost Dharma Bum]

Rocking it Conglish Style
Love the Blog, I've been in Daegu for a month and I can totally relate to this. Hope you are still having a good time here!