alabama

We are settled into our place in home sweet Alabama and woa the culture shock is thick. Going from Seoul, South Korea (population 40 million, buzzing of mayhem 24/7) to Enterprise, Alabama (population 5,000 in the deep south).... has inevitably been a bit of a change. Although we are back in our native country, it has been an interesting transition. One thing that has been great is that we speak the native language here; can't even tell you how much simpler life is when you speak the language fluently.

Another thing we have noticed being in such a prosperous country.... "keeping up with the Jones." We miss the international lifestyle that was so temporary and involved nothing related to accumulating material things. But in the United States, the rat race is nuts. We had never noticed it before since it is so pervasive and normal here. Not that Korea isn't materialistic, quite the contrary, but not being a part of their culture, the things that lure them didn't lure us. The hot music there, the cool cars there, the things that they spent so much money on to keep up with their own culture were not temptations for us, because generally they aren't things that we could bring home with us, nor things that interested us.

We hope to embrace the international lifestyle again someday, but for now it's great to be home. My only complaint is that I am again small! I can't even reach the top shelves in my kitchen here! (That was never a problem in Korea!)