Expat Diaries-Signs You've Lived in Asia

It's that time again! Link up your expat/travel stories below and make sure to stop by some other bloggers and say hi! We also have a very special co-host with us this month, Nicole from Treasure Tromp so be sure to show her some love as well! Thanks to everyone for linking up and spreading the word! We have had so much fun getting to know you all!

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Have you ever lived abroad and realized that you've developed tell tale signs that you've been out of your home country for awhile? I was skyping with a good friend of mine back home the other day when all of a sudden, she started to giggle over something I said. You see, when you live overseas for a certain amount of time, you're lingo beings to...change. College turns into University, air conditioners are now air cons. We've also started using the Korean word 'mogi' for mosquito in our household. But that's a whole other type of confusing that we will impart upon our children.

This whole conversation got me thinking about how else we'll stick out when we return back home and what are some tell tale signs that show that a person has lived in Asia for a little too long.

.You've mastered the art of chopsticks. Just call me the Mr. Miyagi of chopsticks.

.You consider squatty potties you thigh workout for the day.

.It looks as if you're preparing for the apocalypse when you visit Walmart back home. Because of course, not just one bag of peanut butter m&ms will do, you need five. When we visited back home, the lady at the cash register gave us more than a few weird looks as half a dozen deodorants, six containers of oatmeal and various vitamins and medicines pass her checkout line.

.No shower curtain in the bathroom? No problem. And let's face it ladies, the toilet is the perfect height to rest your leg while shaving anyway.

.You think it's gross when people don't take off their shoes when entering a house.

.You can't have a conversation without pausing to think of the correct word. When your job is to try and simplify the English language as much as possible, your vocabulary tends to go out the window.

.You can't wrap your head around a car that can comfortably fit people in the back seat. Our current car you have to sit sideways since there's not enough room for your knees to sit facing forward.

.You have to roll up all of your pants and pass them off as cropped pants because let's face it, that's as long as you can find them

.You bow...to everyone.

.You could have a degree in the art of charades. Ever had to play charades to find out where the lady doctor is? Pray you never have to.

.You don't understand what people do with homes more than 1,000 sq. ft...but you're still a little jealous of them anyway.

Are there any other signs that I've missed? Have you ever lived abroad and felt a little different when talking with people back home?

Expat Diaries-Life and Perspectives in Korea

I decided for this month's Expat Diaries, I would step back in time and talk about when we first came over to Korea and how moving overseas has changed us. Link up your travel/expat stories below and get to know some of the other lovely bloggers!

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I still remember the moment my husband and I decided to move abroad. I had texted him to tell him that instead of settling in our hometown after the wedding, I wanted to live abroad and travel the world. He texted back saying he already knew of a job opportunity working as ESL teachers in South Korea. So while I planned the wedding, he set to work on the piles of paperwork needed in order to work abroad. Within four months, we were on a plane for half way around the world. The draw of traveling and experiencing different cultures all while being able to save money is what led us to hop on that plane with our lives in four small bags and not look back. Within the first six months of living in Korea, we had already decided one year was not long enough. We made plans to find jobs for a second and even a third year.

People always ask us how it feels to live in a different country. Don’t we miss home? Is it hard? Truth be told, it goes in cycles. At first, everything is a novelty. We walked around our small town for the first month with our eyes wide open, taking in all the strange sights and smells. Gawking in the fish market and getting confused at all of the signs written in Korean, a language that might as well been hieroglyphics. Then, it changes. You get sick of playing charades every time you want something to eat; you get annoyed at the pointing and the stares. You start to wonder why you came at all and daydream by looking at apartment ads posted back stateside (true story). And if you can make it through that, you graduate to the final stage…normalcy. Even the most bizarre, strange and annoying things seem like a walk in the park. Things that once made you want to pack your bags and leave, make you laugh and shake your head. The country you once thought of as so bizarre and foreign now feels like home (or as much as it can in a country where you'll always be looked at as an outsider).

My husband and I always speak about how life will be so different when we return back to the states. Living overseas not only changes the way you look at life, but also how you live life. So how has it changed us?

1. As you can imagine, Korean cuisine is drastically different from in the States. There is of course a lot of rice, a lot of fresh vegetables and a lot of spice. I am an absolute wimp when it comes to spice, so I hardly ate when we first moved here. But as the months wore on, I found myself adding more and more spicy sauce to my meals and even (gasp) craving Korean dishes. Living here has changed what we eat and has made us choose what we eat more carefully. We have found ourselves naturally eating less processed foods, more fresh produce and a more varied selection of dishes. When we move back home we’ll think more about what we are putting into our bodies and try to keep the habit of choosing to eat better foods for our bodies (even though for a while we’ll be downing every burger we come across).

2. Patience is not a virtue I excel at. But when you’re teaching young children a language they do not yet know and you have to explain what to do three times, in three distinctly different ways; patience eventually becomes one of your strong skills.

Even this simple art project took me a few times to explain

3. Living overseas and traveling as much as we do has made us much more open-minded to those around us and the different cultures of the world. And while this has made a huge impact in our own lives, it has also made us realize that we would like to raise our kids in the future with this same mentality.

4. One of the biggest things that living in Korea has shown us is how we treat foreigners in our own country. We feel so incredibly blessed to live in a country where, even though we know very little of the language, we have never had a negative or rude experience while living here due to language barriers. Everyone is so patient with us while we try to describe what we are looking for or what we need. Living in a different country is difficult as is, and I hope we can show the same patience to foreigners when we move back home. Now that we are able to understand what it feels like to be on the other side.

Traveling and living abroad is all about adaptation, developing the skill to laugh in any situation and most of all, to be humble. You learn to be flexible and work around the inevitable obstacles that will get in your way. You learn to laugh when the obvious cultural differences stare you in the face. For example, you have to laugh when the cook comes out of the kitchen and tells you to shush because you are the typical loud American, you have to laugh when your children try to grab your boobs in class, and you especially have to laugh when your boss tells you that you look tired and sick when really you feel fine. But most important of all of these, is to be humble. We as expats are bound to make mistakes and bound to step over a cultural line at some point. It is during those times that we have to be gracious and humble enough to take help from those around you and apologize.

I apologize that since we're leaving on a jet plane in a matter of hours, I won't be able to hop around to your blogs as usual. I assure you though that I look forward to reading them when we get back! Thanks everyone for linking up with us!

Expat Diaries: What Makes the Cut?

It's time for Expat Diaries once again! Link up your travel/expat stories below and get to know some of the other lovely bloggers!

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I love most aspects of planning for a trip. I love picking the destination, researching where to go and what to see while we're there. I even love budgeting for trips (anyone want to hire me? Dream job, right there). But you know what sucks all the fun out of it? Packing. I always procrastinate and more times than not, I forget something. But there are certain things that I make sure to never forget. No matter what season, what destination (because we know that those two things can drastically alter a packing list) these are some small items that always make it into my bag.

1. Pashmina- these multi-functional scarves always make the cut. These are great on cold airplanes, restaurants and trains to use as an extra layer. They're also great in temples and cathedrals when women need to have their shoulders covered.

2. Medicine bag- the worst thing is being away from home, getting sick and not having medicine handy. I'm especially careful about what I pack when going overseas since it may be more difficult to find medicine or communicate what I need. Here are some things I make sure to stick in there.
.Advil
.Immodium- traveler's diarrhea is a real thing guys...especially in Thailand.
.Motion Sickness Bands- I don't get motion sick as bad as I used to, but using these really helps! They just work by using pressure points, no popping pills necessary.
.Triple Antibiotic Ointment- with a daredevil husband like mine, I can never be too safe. I sometimes stick butterfly bandages in there as well...just in case. (I know his mom is nodding her head right now)
.Tiger balm- I can't even begin to express how amazing this product is. From burns, bug bites muscle pains and sprains, it's got you covered.

3. SD Card Holder- we always carry multiple SD cards with us when we travel. This is because 1. we're click happy and take way too many photos and 2. if we lose one of the cards, at least we don't lose our photos from the entire trip. We usually use a different card based on the day or location. This also helps in editing when we return home because we know exactly what pictures are on each card. Carrying them in a case like this helps keep them all together and makes for easy access.

4. Eye Mask- the plane has the inside lights left on, the hotel oh so conveniently forgot to mention that there are bright neon lights right outside the window (welcome to Korea), or you're crashing on your grams couch and would really rather not know what she looks like in her pj's. Eye masks are always a good idea.
Ear Buds- I actually never really gave thought to this one...until we were flying back from vacation. I wanted to catch up on some sleep before our full week ahead of us, and what do you know, we get the seats right behind a screaming baby. And I'm not talking about the cute little cooing and squealing. I'm talking about the blood curdling screams that happen right before you're about to fall asleep. Parents, I have so much more respect for you after hearing that. But ear buds are a definite must from here on out.

5. Tripod/Camera Remote- I realy dislike having to ask people to take our photo. I feel like it inconveniences them and half of the time we don't get the shot that we wanted. So instead, we bought a gorilla tripod. It's small and flexible and can be set up in numerous different ways including being able to hang from trees or cliffs (that one really made me nervous when we tried it in Thailand...hanging over the water. But it worked!)

6. Travel Organizer- my husband is known for wearing cargo shorts whenever we travel. Not for the comfort sake but for the fact that he keeps our tickets, passports and any other documents stuffed in every.single.pocket. After one too many times of shuffling through pockets to find what we needed, we bought this travel organizer. Smaller than a book and can hold all of our money, passports, tickets and any other document that we may need. Organization made easy.

7. Travel Clock- we typically don't travel with our cell phones since we would hardly be able to use them anyway. So instead we bring a small travel clock to work as our alarm. We learned the hard way when we traveled to Thailand, booked an early tour, and realized there was not a clock to be found in the entire guesthouse. Actually none of the places we stayed in Thailand had clocks. It's now a must have item in our bag.

8. Entertainment- let's face it, airports and airplanes are not always the most stimulating places to be stuck for hours at a time. Entertainment is huge on my list and a favorite of ours is Skip-bo (ok a favorite of mine and my husband is kind enough to tolerate it).

9. Kindle- ever since I bought my Kindle two years ago, it comes on every trip we take. Vacation is really the only time that I have to sit down and leisurely read so it's great that I can store so many books in such a small space! I also have the water-resistant cover because let's face it, the beach and Kindles just don't mesh well.

10. Flashlight- this may seem like an odd thing to pack but we've used our mini flashlight a ton on trips. Exploring caves, going on walks at night, unexpected power outages. You can never be too prepared and you can find flashlights that fit in the palm of your hand so they don't take up too much room.

What are your travel essentials?

Expat Diaries: Shoebox Apartments

Welcome to the third installment of the Expat Diaries! Go ahead and link up you expat/travel stories below and make sure to stop by some other bloggers and say hi! I so look forward to reading everyone's stories each month! Thanks so much for being a part of this!

So let's get started shall we?

We live in a small apartment here in Korea. Well, let me rephrase that to say that in American standards, we live in a small apartment. We feel very blessed and fortunate to have the size apartment that we do because we have known couples whose work has provided them with a 300 square foot studio apartment for the both of them. How they're both still alive is beyond me. But needless to say, all three of our apartments in Korea have been smaller than what we're accustomed to back home in the States. And while some things on this list may not apply to our current spot, they all could have been said about at least one of them.

So if you're sitting there wondering what qualifies as a small apartment or wonder if yours fits the bill, this should help. You know you live in a small apartment if:

.It takes you 15 minutes to clean the entire thing

.It takes just as long for it to look like a train wreck again

.It's impossible to lose or misplace anything

.You can vacuum the entire place without switching wall outlets

.You have an oven the size of a toaster oven and even that you have difficulty finding a place for

I'm just impressed we could fit a turkey inside. Even though it was so close to the elements that it had lines on it.

.You can see every room from one spot

.When the trash bag is full, you can smell it from every room

.If you leave the door open when showering, all the windows in the apartment fog up

.Your kitchen table is where you do most of your cooking because you can barely fit a cutting board on your counter.

Our first kitchen. I did most of my cooking on the table since I could barely fit anything besides a plate on the counter.

.It takes about five minutes for the place to cool down or heat up

.You don't have seasonal decorations, not because you don't want them but because you don't know where you'd store them

.You have a dorm sized fridge because you can't fit much else. Thankfully we were able to upgrade to at least a half sized fridge

.You don't have to yell or even raise your voice in order for another person to hear you across the apartment or in another room

.Your social events have a max capacity guest list

.You have to find new and unique places to store things...like under the couch

This is where we kept out out of season clothes

.You are constantly switching out the clothes in your closet because only one season fits at a time. The rest go under the bed or in our case...under our couch.

.Every time you buy something new, you have to get rid of something. Not because you think it's the  ethical thing to do, but because you don't have enough room.

.At least one or more people have to sit on the floor when they come over...good thing we live in Asia and this is seen as normal.

I just want to end this by saying that even though we live in a place smaller than what we're accustomed to, we now very much prefer it and no longer want to get a large house when we move back to the states. It's funny the things you can get used to!

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Expat Diaries: Getin' Neked

I'm so excited for the second installment of the Expat Diaries with Rachel! We had such a great turn out last month and I'm so excited to read this month's posts! This is such a great opportunity to post your travel advice, questions, or expat and travel stories. But more than that, it's a great way to connect with fellow travel lovers and expats. So go add your post below and get to know some of the other bloggers!

Last week I may have just had the most unAmerican experience possible. I stripped down to my birthday suit in front of a bunch of Korean women. Jjimjilbangs (찜질방), or Korean style bathhouses are extremely popular where I live. You can see them on just about every block and are a very common Korean past time, especially during the cooler months. These spas are gender segregated and include several different pools of varying temperatures, showers and also separate sit down showers with mirrors where women sit and scrub off a layer of their skin. And all for the price of $6.00!

So this all sounds fantastic right? You're probably wondering why it took me two whole years to go. Because, my friends, all of this is done while being completely butt neked. And while I'm not exactly the most timid one out there, something about being completely naked and the only foreigner, kind of got to me.

I once asked a student of mine about the spa and she mentioned that she had seen some foreigners there. I said great, what did she look like (we live in a small town, chances are, I knew her). My student went on to say that she had short brown hair, tall, and oh teacher, she had huge boobs! As tempting as it was to try out the spa, I did not want to take the chance of not only seeing one of my students...both of us in the nude...but I definitely didn't want to be the foreigner that she's describing in detail to anyone that would listen.

My partners in crime, Jen & Amber. The red sign above is the symbol indicating a bath house

Recently, however, I caved into finally experiencing the glory of the bathhouse and I could not be more thrilled! A friend of mine arranged this little get together and we all braved the awkwardness of showing our goods together. So here's the drill to going to a Korean bathhouse:

When you walk in, you will choose which option you want. You can either just use the spa, or you can pay extra to spend the night. Clothes are provided for this option and both men and women sleep in the common area which has TV's, couches, food and a unisex sauna. This is a great option for a cheap nights stay if all the hotels are booked.

When you pay, you receive a ticket with a number on it. You go into the women's locker room and find the correlating locker number and put your shoes in. Then, you go into the next locker room and again, find the matching number and that locker is for your clothes. We were wondering if this was where we should strip down, and just as we were asking each other, three unabashedly unclothed women walked by. Yup, we were in the right spot.

We all stood looking at our empty lockers in front of us, not being able to contain our awkward laughter as we undressed. I have gone topless at beaches (until the one American showed up and started staring down all the women. Advice to guys; if you want to go to a topless beach, wear sunglasses), I've stripped down to my undies in front of strangers backstage when I used to do runway shows, but walking around in absolutely nothing like it ain't no thing? That was new for me.

The last picture we could take

Each pool had a thermometer above it showing the temperature while others had jets or added minerals to them. Then there was also the option for a whole body scrub. Now, most Koreans simply buy a scrub cloth (resembling a Brillo pad) from a fully stocked beauty vending machine in the locker room and get to work in front of the seated showers. How some of them weren't bleeding by the end of it is beyond me. But there is also an option to pay an extra $20 and have someone do it for you.

I have had friends tell me in the past that women scrub you down in these places but the way that they described it, I just thought there were some older Korean women that hung around the spa and liked to scrub people's backs while they relaxed. I thought it was a little weird but hey, it's Korea. Anything can happen. I quickly realized that I had been wrong and these people scrubbing women down were in fact employees and it was in no way as weird as I thought (or at least as un-weird as a women scrubbing another completely naked woman can be). One of the friends that I went with went for this option and while it took over an hour, she said that her skin had never felt so amazing.

So what did I think? I realize that so many countries around the world practice nude bath houses, but coming from America, this was one of the most foreign experiences I've had yet. I can't tell you how badly I wanted to take pictures inside the bathhouse,  because it all looked so bizarre, but I don't think that would have made the most family friendly post. To be perfectly honest though, I found this experience somewhat liberating. At first, yes, it's extremely awkward and uncomfortable but by the end of it I felt perfectly comfortable walking around and hardly noticed that there were no bathing suits, not to mention it was one of the most relaxing experiences. So would I go again? In a heartbeat.

What do you think? Would you try it?

P.S. I'm over on The Bradley's talking about hubs and I's 'no technology weekends'. Go check it out!



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Expat Diaries: How to Haggle Without Feeling like an...*ahem*

Welcome to the first Expat Diaries! I'm so excited for this link up and the relationships with other expats and travel lovers that I know it will create. Link up below with your travel pictures, expat stories, advice or questions!

One of my favorite things to do when we're traveling abroad or even in our own country, is going to the markets and shopping...big surprise huh? I've learned that many times in these markets, in order to get what you want, and for how much you want, haggling is required. For some, haggling can be awkward and uncomfortable, for others, a challenge to be met. No matter which side you fall, there are some tricks of the trade that can help. Here are some things that I've picked up in my years of haggling in markets.

.Try to go as soon as the market opens or right before it closes. Many times in the morning they are trying to make their first sale of the day. This means that they may be more likely to cut you a deal to get the ball rolling. In the evening, they are also quite generous as they are trying to sell as much as they can before they close. While we were in Thailand, I was shopping for wallets and came across one that I really liked. I asked the price early in the evening and it was 400 baht ($13.50). I went back at closing time and the starting price had dropped automatically to 300 baht ($10.00). I asked 250 baht ($8.50) and ended up saving myself $5 in the end.

.A big smile and great manners will get you everywhere. Yes, their product may be cheap and kitschy but you don't have to tell them that in order to get a lower price. Start off with a big smile and ask them how they're doing. Often times when I start off this way I can see them soften right away. It's much easier to say no to a rude person than someone being extra friendly.

.Don't feel guilty asking for a lower price! They know exactly how low they can sell the product and still make a profit. This is the reason why the price starts higher...so they can reduce it and make you feel like you're getting a great deal. Also, start lower than the price you want to pay. This will give you room to increase in price and not pay more than you want to as they try to barter with you.

.Don't get discouraged if they don't give you the price you want or refuse to barter. More times than not, you can find the same thing just a few stalls down.

.Shop around. See what others are selling the same or similar item for. This will help you gauge what you should be paying and what price you can ask for.

.This one is an oldie but a goodie. Walk away. They might be more willing to barter if they think they might lose a sale. If not, you'll most likely find the same thing elsewhere.

.Remember, they're trying to make a living just as much as you're trying to get a good deal. Offer them a fair price.

Any other suggestions on haggling that has worked for you?

Now it's time for you to link up! Be sure to visit and say hi to others linking up and also link back to this page so others can join in!


Linking up with Chelsea and Rekita