Eight months, eight years, or eight weeks?

I have been in Korea for eight months. EIGHT MONTHS! And Will has been here for seven. In some ways, it doesn’t seem possible we’ve been here for that long. But on the other hand, we’ve grown into our routines and living in Korea has become pretty ordinary... at least sometimes. For the first month I was here, at every moment of every day, there was something strange in the air... A combination of smells, sounds, sights, tastes, and physical feelings that I couldn’t separate and identify, but that was so very different from home. That feeling is gone now. The “strange” smells have become everyday. I still notice them sometimes, but not as something alien. And we have our routines. Get up, make coffee, get ready for work, go to work, teach, come home, cook or go out for dinner, spend the evening reading, watching TV, and playing video games (for Will, at least). We go to Seoul about once a month, but we mostly go to the same places, and even those are becoming familiar. In the middle of this everyday life, I sometimes have to remind myself that less than a year ago, I knew nothing about Korea. Right before I came, I pictured Korea as a totally different place than it actually is, but when I arrived it was still strange. Even frightening. And sometimes it comes as a sudden realization that what I’m doing here is still exotic and interesting, even though to me it’s just living, working, eating, sleeping, sometimes doing something fun. So now I think it’s time (or way PAST time... sorry...) to write down some general observations I’ve made, some things I’ve learned while I’m here, and a general report on the goodness of life. So bear with me... this one’s going to take several posts over the next couple of weeks, since I haven’t written in months. If I save any of it for later, I’m afraid you won’t get it until January! (At which point, I’ll be home, I promise.)