Things To Get At Home

Things To Get:

Tomorrow I will be embarking on a 24 hour trek to get to my lovely Welsh homeland. I cannot wait. I want to jump on the plane now but I still have two days left of work. As you may remember from the last few days of school you mostly watched movies and played games. At the time I thought it was because my teachers were kind and fun loving people, now I realise it’s because they were hung-over, stressed out teachers who wanted to sit the kids in front of something silly for an hour.

When I’m not being a fantastic teacher and sharing the joys of Mr Bean (How I love you Rowan for the hours of silence you have granted me) I am at my desk ‘desk- warming’. This is the name given to the Korean school process in which foreign teachers have to stay in school for certain amount of hours whether the school is open or not.

My desk warming for the next two days will consist of old Hollywood movies (currently it is The Seven Year Itch and The Big Sleep) and dreaming of the lovely things I will be buying when I get off the plane. So here is my shopping list:

1. Eggnog Latte….this one will be the most upsetting one if it’s not available since this is the taste of Christmas to me and not something you can find in Korea so my plan is, get off the plane and run to Starbucks.

2. CHEESE – cheese is available in Korea but its expensive and rare so I am going to get a shopping cart and fill it to the top with lots of English treats including blue cheese, cheddar, Halumi, brie, camembert and anything else I can lay my hands on.

3. Underwear – The weirdest experience while shopping for clothes here in Korea was being laughed out of a shop when I told them my bra size. In the uk I am not only average but a bit below average. Some would go as far to say small but here in Korea I am like a Russian Hooker. The only bras I can buy come in a special hidden section and are covered in dust. The other weird edition to the problem is all bras in Korea are padded so when I finally do find one to fit it’s padded up to my ears. I shall be happily wandering into every vintage underwear shop I can find in the UK. What Katie Did on Portobello road will definitely be getting a visit.

4. Shoes – This one will be essential to survive next year in Korea. My feet suffer from the same problem as my brassieres. Very very big in Korea. I luckily have a supply of shoes waiting for me at home since my luggage when I moved here was too full for lots of pairs. I will be like a kid in a candy store (but with the added advantage of knowing they all fit perfectly as I’ve worn them all before)

5. Herbs and Spices – I’ve recently discovered a few places that sell the basic herbs and spices in Korea but since I am hoping to ‘Get my Cook on’ next year I really want to bring a big collection. Ginger, Nutmeg, Chicken stock and Rosemary to name a few. I might also get lazy and just bring ‘Chinese 5 spice’.
   

6. Chinese food – the most ironic item on the list is definitely Chinese and Thai food. The irony of having to leave Asia to get good Chinese food isn’t wasted on me but it’s very true. Koreans have their own version of Chinese food that is probably more authentic but doesn’t represent the type I’m use to at all. It is easily my favourite food so when I get home I shall be feasting on Pad Thai, Black Bean and Chow Mein’s as much s possible. Mmmm

7. Dresses – for no reason other than I want to go to London and buy pretty vintage dresses

8. Tights – While I love a good stocking as much as the next girl I need some tights to get me through the cold winters and the average day while teaching. In Korea tights are a mysterious item that doesn’t exist. It’s actually extremely hard to find stocking too. They only have circulation cutting off stockings up to the thigh. I have seen my leg turn blue more than a few times.  

9. Christmas Party food – Smoked Salmon, Pate, French bread, mozzarella sticks, tomatoes salads, potato wedges, salt and vinegar crisps, chip shop chips, pasties’, scones, crumpets, butter…all of the above. I’m craving it all and can’t wait for my own little party when I get home.

10. Good Coffee – although there are a million coffee shops (and I mean a million) none of them do a good coffee. It’s very rare and expensive to track down a place that is willing to make you a beautiful Dutch drip coffee. Starbucks can give you a good one as well as a restaurant called ‘Butterfinger Pancakes’ in Seoul but apart from that , I’m stumped.