Korean Buzzwords

Since getting to Korea there have been some words that get said a lot in our house.  (If you have ever been out of the United States these may be familiar.) Here are a few:

Piggy Nose Plug Adapter

• Piggy Nose - This is the plug converter for all of our American (120V) electronics that are dual voltage.  I know they are called other things but Piggy Nose is what we call them 'round here because the outlet on the wall looks like a pig's nose.
• Dual Voltage - Very important one!  You have to check that your electronics can handle the 220V that come from the wall.  In this day and age with so many people traveling abroad you would think most things would be dual voltage but you would be surprised by the things that aren't and you HAVE to check.  If you don't you will end up with ruined electronics at the best and a fire at the worst.  If the electronic is only 120V then you need a step down converter between your device and the wall.  They are mildly expensive and kind of bulky (most landlords supply them to you).  Overall a pain in the butt.  We really wonder why the United States has to be so stubborn and not become universal with the rest of the world... including going to the metric system.  BUT my new saying is "if it makes sense just do the opposite" and this seems to be the American Way.
• LPG - Our house has gas but it is LPG, or Liquid Propane Gas, not natural gas.  This was a bit of a problem when our stove that the Army supplied us came in because it was set up for Natural Gas which is what we use in the US.  I have never had a house with any type of gas before and it makes me a bit anxious to have flammable gas piped in to my house.



Water Purifier (similar)

• Woonjin - Tap water here in Korea isn't the best to drink so we have a water purifier installed.  It is pretty awesome and you can have instant cold or hot water that tastes fantastic.
• Dehumidifier - This has become really important to the hubby lately because our AC's don't work to cool and condition all of our rooms (we don't have central air/heat).  The dehumidifier has just sucked buckets of water out of the air though.  I am quite fascinated and I hope it keeps the rooms without AC mold free while we are in Monsoon season.

I have picked up a few words in Korean (excuse my butchering of the romanization of the words)... still have no clue how to read Hangul AT ALL.

• nampyeon - this is husband.
• pooin - (I don't know if I am 100% correct on this) this is wife.
• Cola - you ask for this and you will get a brown soda, usually coke.  If you offer a Korean who is helping you this and you have root beer or cherry coke they take the cherry coke.
• juseyo - this is roughly translated as please.  Cola juseyo, maegju juseyo (beer please), mul jeuseyo (water please) 

Little less than 2 weeks till I start work at Daegu International School.  I am very excited to get in to a routine and start curriculum planning.  Getting my work visa is stressing me out a bit because I don't totally understand the requests being made and I feel like I am asking a 100 questions about what I need to do and I don't want to mess it up.  My nampyeon (ha!) has been telling me how many people are shocked to hear I have a job lined up already and I can tell he is very proud of me.  I tell them that I am quite unique with my credentials (I am an engineer after all and totally not humble about how hard that is and how impressed you should be by it).  Hubby has been super busy with work the last few days and it seems to only be getting busier for him.  He is allowed 10 days leave to help me get acclimated but duty calls and he is back at work again after just a few days which is just another reason for me to get in to a routine.
That's it for me now.  Afternoons are rough for me since everyone in the US is asleep and I am here watching reruns of Law & Order: CI.