Putting Korean Lessons into Practice

Sweet, I just completed my first (mostly) successful purchasing conversation with a store clerk! That's right, folks; I managed to ask for and buy two different kinds of trash bags. Garbage... it's the little things in life that make you proud.

I should probably back up a little. I don't think I ever wrote about my first adventure trying to find a bag for throwing away food a couple of weeks ago. You see, they're serious about recycling in Korea; it's the law, and you can face steep fines if they catch you disposing of stuff in the wrong way, supposedly. Most apartments in the cities separate recyclables, and there's a difference between normal waste and compostable waste too. Normal stuff includes used napkins, snotty tissues, dustpan contents from sweeping, package tags, laundry fuzz, etc.

To encourage people to recycle as much as humanly possible though, the city charges money for the bags you can use for throwing away said snotty tissues, so you have to find a store that sells these white/blue/tan etc. bags. On a plus side, it took me about three weeks to fill up a little gallon-sized bag since everything else went in the recycling. For food though, you have to have a special yellow bag, and not a lot of stores that I wandered timidly into my first week in Siheung seemed to sell the yellow ones, or they were a size more suitable for a tailgate party than my little collection of egg shells and orange and banana peels. I asked co-teachers for ideas, I wandered around stores, and finally I decided to try the 7-11 where I go to withdraw money from the international ATM. They had the yellow bag! I bought one eagerly and rushed home clutching my treasure (which also happened to be my trash).

Because of the nature of compostable stuff though, you really don't want a bag of it sitting around for very long though. My bag full of shells and peelings has crossed the bar on the realm of ripe and is growing new plant or fungus life within. I decided that tonight it was time to seek out new food waste bags. In Rosetta Stone, I've been learning some vocab for making purchases and asking for items, so I brushed up some vocab, double checked my phrasebook, triple checked my bilingual pocket dictionary, and marched down the street to the 7-11. I picked up a spare pack of band-aids and another sleeve of chocolate Oreos since I was there, and told the punk rocker-looking guy who works there, "Cho-neun kabang ne gae weonhaeyo. Tu gae hin sek kurigo tu gae noran sek." Which approximately means, "I want 4 bags, please. Two white and two yellow." And he asked me to confirm the numbers, just to be sure.

The reason why I wrote that this was a mostly successful purchasing conversation is that I somehow seem to have asked for 2 packets each of white and yellow bags, since that's what he pulled out. Maybe I shouldn't have said the "4" part. Anyway, for the 1 pack of white bags that he had in stock and two packs of yellow bags, the band-aids, and oreos, it came out to a whopping 18,000 won (nearly $18), and since I'm having some cash flow problems right now, that was awfully high just to be able to throw away some more banana peels. I caught his attention and said, "Hm... Hangae noransek. Komapseumnida!" (One yellow, thanks!), and he changed the cash register total accordingly. The price went down to 13,300 won.

So yay! I bought my trash bags, spent a more reasonable amount of money, controlled the amount of supplies I wanted, and managed to maintain something like politeness while doing so, rather than just pointing and grunting. :) I've done a lot of cavewoman talk in the last few weeks, and it was nice to actually say some words, even if I'm sure they sounded weird to him. I'm also glad that the Rosetta Stone stuff has been at least a little use. Several Koreans have told me how well I say the variations of "thank you" so that's another thing for which I can thank Rosetta Stone.

Right now I'm mainly trying to see the positive things since a few problems have arisen (namely, my first payday was supposed to be a week ago, and as of a few hours ago, my new bank account still reads zero balance). Apparently the school board that dispenses the money has been having some cutbacks, and a few budget things didn't get directed where they were supposed to in time for payday. I don't know when it'll come either, but Mr. Kim has offered to loan me (more) money, and several people from church have offered to help me out with cash until I get my first paycheck. I'm just trying to live very frugally as long as I can for now. That does mean postponing the purchase of highly-overpriced hand lotion for now, which is the thing I look at most longingly in stores right now. I would say my hands and feet feel like leather right now (it's pretty dry here, drinking water has to be purchased, and the changes between super cold outdoors and warm indoors, plus the fact that they don't really serve beverages at lunch all, make a really dehydrating situation), but my leather gloves and leather belt seem a heck of a lot softer than my poor knuckles right now. Oh well, maybe next week.

Lack of funds means a little bit more time with convenience store dining and home cooking, but I can stick it out. Even though school lunches will cost me 3,000 won a meal, it's usually pretty filling, so I've been eating big cafeteria food lunches and having modestly-sized breakfasts and dinners. This amounts to lots of "eggs in a basket" or doctored-up ramyeon noodle packages for dinner, and milk, juice and cereal for breakfast. Plus my supply of multivitamins won't run out for quite a while. It could be a lot worse.

After finishing my little dinner tonight, I was reminded of the passage in Philippians 4 in which Paul is writing about contentment. I flipped over to that passage, and re-read it. Here's the passage from Bible Gateway: "10 I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. 11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me. 14 Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble. [...] 19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 20 To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen."

What struck me this time was that Paul said "I have learned." Maybe he didn't immediately have contentment or know how to do without; God schooled him in these things, and Paul was the better for it afterward, able to praise God for His provision in all circumstances. At church on Sunday, one of the people prayed for me in a small group that my paycheck would arrive, but also that God would show me the lesson He is working in my life through this situation. I maybe shouldn't try to interpret what God is doing in my life, but it does seem like I'm getting a chance to learn some of "the secret of facing hunger and need." How interesting that Paul says there's a secret of facing plenty and abundance too! Hm, I guess this is a different sort of Korean lesson (being a lesson I'm learning while in Korea).

All I know is that God feeds the sparrows and clothes the lilies, and I am of far more value to my Heavenly Father than these. He even provides little things like required trash bags when I need them and the language with which I can ask for them. :)