The Subway- Always an adventure.

The subway is a great place, filled with great people, great potential and a nice mix of stories that will keep you talking over lunch. Most of the time you think the journey will be great craic, but sometimes it turns out to something a little different.  Here are some things that can go wrong on your beloved subway ride;

1. The machine eats your money; You try to top up your T Money card and the machine just eats your 10,000w. Then you press the help button, to talk to a Korean adjussi who totally has no idea what you’re saying and now you have hope of getting you 10,000w back. You look around asking for help with your eyes and everyone pretends they can’t see you.   And you haven’t even gotten on the subway.

2. You get the subway in the wrong direction;  You’re in downtown Seoul and you hop on the subway you think is your subway.  You find a seat, pull out your Kindle and settle into your book. After about oh 10 stops or so you begin to wonder why you haven’t reached yours. So you look for the next station name on your Jihachul to realise that you’re not even going in the wrong direction. So now, not only did you waste the last 15 minutes going in the wrong direction but you’re going to have to get out, swap over, wait for the correct subway, waste 15 more minutes going back and then start going in the right direction.

3. You miss your stop; In the situation that you  get the subway in the right direction, there is always a possibility that you will miss your stop. Sometimes this is because the subway is overcrowded and exiting would mean certain death. Sometimes it’s because you aren’t paying attention to which stop you’re at because you’re reading, tweeting, Facebooking, Instagramming etc

4. You sit beside a drunk; It’s ok to have enjoyed a few drinks and to responsible enough to take public transport home but don’t bring your new-found enthusiasm near me. Sleeping on my shoulder, trying to mutter something, spitting next to me, vomiting next to me, taking off your clothes is totally not ok. Go home, you’re drunk!

5. You’re surrounded by the church people; Being a foreigner on the subway makes you a magnet for the church people. No amount of listening to music and not speaking Korean can get you out of having to spend your subway ride watching the latest version of the Testament Part 2 on DVD.

6. You leave your bag on the subway; Although Korea is a safe country, leaving your bag on the subway is never a good idea. I’ve known people to get their bags back after leaving them on the subway but I know more who didn’t. And think about the people on that subway.  There they are all sitting around, wondering who left their bag unattended.  They wait a while and eventually everyone is getting a little nervous when nobody comes to claim it. Actually, that’s just me. Koreans on the subway rarely notice these things so while I’m fleeing for the carriage furthest away, everyone else is like 왜?

7. You fall asleep; Possibly the worst thing that can go wrong. Imagine this. You live in say…..Paju. It’s 6am on a Sunday morning. You’ve spent the entire night partying and you’re now ready to go home. You hop on the near deserted subway. You take off your shoes and lie across the seats for a little nap. Except this nap turns into a long sleep and when you wake up you are;

1. Surrounded by Koreans in their Sunday best who have to stand because they don’t want to wake the foreigner who’s taking over the entire row.

2. On your way back to Seoul. You have no idea how many time you did the round trip, but you’re on your way back to Seoul.

3. Hungover.

Imagine if all the above happened in one journey.  Never a dull moment. Leave your subway adventure stories below!

It’s a drill! Or is it?

Alarms. They are everywhere. Our cars, houses, they wake us up in the morning, they warn us that something bad might be about to happen. The following is the story of what happened yesterday.

It was just another regular day at school. Screaming children, crying children, children who have generally no idea where they are, let alone what they’re doing. Fighting children, playing children and me. The foreigner. The teacher that the others forget. The one who never goes to the meetings and who is generally the last person to find out about everything.

There I was, sitting by the window, enjoying the few minutes away from the chaos when something unexpected happened. The sirens went off.  This being Korea, the sirens themselves are not unusual. I’ve been here long enough to have experienced the civil defense drills before. The fact that I didn’t know about it meant one of two things, 1. I didn’t get the memo 2. This was actually a real emergency.  I figured the chances was 80-20. So my first step was a completely logical one, I continued doing what I was doing.  For about five minutes the sirens continued and nobody came to tell me anything so I figured it was all good. Then, to my horror, I realised that not only was the staffroom empty, but the school was deathly quiet. Since this never happens, I figured I should make a greater effort to find out what was going on.  So, I took the next step and looked out the window. 

 The office faces a main road and upon close observation the cars were still driving, walkers walking, birds flying and the library staff across the street didn’t seem to be fleeing for their lives, so I took it to be a clear indication that all was well.  Never the less, the idea that the school was quiet scared me. However, since I get left behind on a regular basis in this school, I figured that because the children were going home at 2.30pm, if they had left, they’d probably have to come back to catch the bus.   Unless it was a real emergency, in which case, I was on my own.

Just as I was settling in to my chair, the unthinkable happened. Sirens, other than the big sirens became audible. Now, things were swaying towards the 20% and I immediately regretted not getting up off my chair ten minutes previously.  However, since I could hear the secondary sirens outside the window, I returned to my former look out post. Two cars zipped by with sirens on the top. Only two though, so I came to the conclusion that these were the people who actually go the memo. Once they were out of sight the only sound was the sound of the big siren, so life returned to normal.

Before I had a chance to firmly conclude that it was a drill, my floor manager came rushing in. Although me Korean isn’t perfect, I’m pretty sure she was saying something along the lines of “what’s all that racket about outside” followed by “do you think we should be doing something?”. She too looked out the window and seeing nothing unusual returned to her position as primary care giver to the 120 tiny students we have.

By this time I was almost on the point of panicking. If I didn’t get the memo and the Korean teachers didn’t get the memo then maybe there was no memo and this was for real. In which case we had all just wasted 20 minutes convincing ourselves that this was a drill and hence knocking 20 minutes off our life expectancy. If we were supposed to head to a shelter, the good spaces would surely be gone by time we arrived.

 In desperation, floating between the 80 and the 20, I took the action I could think of. I logged on to Facebook and twitter, simultaneously. And there it was. Confirmation that in other parts of Korea, sirens were also being heard and that these had been confirmed drills. So ours too, was a drill.

Finally, the sirens went off and for many things returned to normal. For us, things just continued. From this amazing experience, I concluded that;

1. Should there be a real emergency, the teachers and students at my school are screwed.

2. If that had actually been a real emergency, the window was the last place I should have been standing. Refer to point number one.

3. Social media might be one day safe my life.

4. If there was a real emergency, my teachers probably wouldn’t tell me anyway so it’s every man for himself.

5. Perhaps, we, as teachers should put a little more effort into teaching our students what to do in the case of an emergency.

6. It’s a shame there was no other English speakers in the school at the time because the conversation in my head during the drill was riveting.

Thanks to all those on Facebook and twitter for sorting it out. Rest assured it really was an air raid drill after all. That will be all. As you were.  You know where to leave your comments.

7 habits I’ve picked up in Korea.

I was thinking about how I’m different to the Shauna who came here in 2009. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m slightly taller, paler and slightly more random than I was back then.  I also do things now that I would never have dreamed of doing back in the day.  The list in endless but here are the top 5. 

1. Bowing; When first I came to Korea, I would stare in amazement at all the people bowing at each other. They bowed all the time, to say hello, goodbye, sorry, the list goes on.  Then I started doing it.  Turns out it’s really fun.  It completely takes away the language barrier, I bump into someone and I just bow.  They know I’m sorry.  I smile and bow, they know I’m happy to see them.  I bow several times while back away towards the door, they know I’m leaving.  Brilliant.  Now, almost four years later, I bow all the time.  I even bow to my foreign friends.  Yes, it gets kind of awkward but whatever, bowing is bowing. 

2. Shoes; Before I came to Korea, I saw shoes as shoes.  Now, I look at shoes and buy them according to how fast I can get them on and off.  Since we take our shoes off when we go into a lot of places, this is essential. You do not want to be slow as a wet week getting your shoes on after you’ve all eaten.  Chances are your party will already be sitting down for beer by the time you get your ridiculously complicated shoes on.  Or worse is at the airport. Sometimes they make you take your shoes off at the security clearance.  The last thing you need is to be holding up the whole line because you can’t get your shoes off.  Fact.

3. Replacing my ‘v’s with ‘b’s; Possibly my worst habit.  I can’t help myself.  Four years of hearing it day in day out will do this to you.  Koreans have difficulty saying the ‘v’ sound so it usually comes out like a ‘b’. Now, I’ve started to it as well. It’s a bery bery cold day today.  Mostly on the word ‘very’. I’m bery happy!

4. Saying things twice; I have no idea where this one came from, but I say things twice.  For example in a normal school day, I might say, “clean up clean up, hello hello, goodbye goodbye, hey hey, why why thank you thank you”

5. Speaking louder when people don’t understand what I’m saying; When I speak in Konglish and someone doesn’t understand what I’m trying to say, I repeat the sentence a tone louder.  I can’t help myself.  It’s possibly to do with the fact that my Korean skills suck or that my English has gone down hill (refer to points 3 & 4). I must remember that if a person does not understand me, it’s not because they’re deaf , it’s because the sentence itself didn’t make sense. 

6. Making a V when taking a picture; For this one, I think I’m going to need years of therapy to help me stop. When someone takes a picture, or there’s a camera is the vicinity, my fingers automatically make a “v” beside my face.  Every time.  It gets pretty awkward when I’m at an event where doing the V is really not appropriate, in which case, I spend the entire night telling myself not to do it .

7. Looking at myself in every reflective surface; Korea is the land of mirrors.  There are mirrors EVERYWHERE, elevators, bathrooms, toilet cubicles, handbags.  The list goes on.  People in Korea are always looking at themselves in reflective surfaces and now I’ve joined them.  I’ve got a pretty mild case and I’m not one of those girls who takes 5 million pictures of herself on the subway (that’s random as hell) but I do use the elevator mirrors and other convenient reflective surfaces to make sure I’m still foreign. 

If you’ve got something you’d like to add, leave it in the comment section below!

Life in Paju- still the same.

When first I came to Korea, I couldn’t understand why there were soldiers everywhere.  At first I put it down to living in close proximity to the border. Then I realised that it was actually just because military service is mandatory here. So over the past four years, I’ve become accustomed to seeing tanks and soldiers and training exercises on a regular basis.  

Yesterday, I woke up late.  I got ready for school in about 6 minutes, had my breakfast made in two but still managed to enjoy twenty minutes of Poirot on television.  (Don’t judge me, there aren’t exactly a huge number of English tv dramas showing at 8 in the morning). My day at school was a struggle to stop children crying, fighting and falling asleep while actually teaching them a few words in English. 

On my way home, I realised that not only was there no petrol in my car and no food in my house.  Two stops later and both situations were rectified.  The rest of the day was spent practising music,catching up on some tv dramas and cleaning my kitchen.  This is actually pretty much how I’ve spent every other Tuesday for the last four years.  

Tuesday, April 9th, a pretty normal day, except for the fact that in the last 15 hours or so, I’ve been swamped with emails and messages expressing concern for my safety. I blame this on a sensational headline on RTE News ( it must have been in Ireland because it was my Irish friends and family that were emailing).

Everyone wants to know what it’s like living so close to the border. I wasn’t going to write this blog until the following questions were sent to me. Motivated by nothing other than helping people to understand how this is affecting  daily lives, I’ve put the answers in this blog. I’m not a journalist.  I’m not involved in politics in any way.  I’m just a regular Irish girl, living and teaching in South Korea and the answers are the honest truth about how the whole situation affects me and my daily life.

Q1. Are you worried about it?

No. This isn’t the first time that North Korea have threatened and it won’t be the last time.  The threshold for worry and panic here is a lot higher than in other countries.  I have started talking about it more and the possible outcomes and implications but to say I’m living in fear of an attack would be a gross misrepresentation of the truth.  As with every potential situation, citizens here are being encouraged to remain vigilant and prepared should an emergency situation arise.

No amount of reporting and big headlines changes the fact that I’m doing today what I’ve been doing every other day for four years and tomorrow looks like it’ll be the same.  My school wouldn’t be too happy if I decided I wasn’t going to show up tomorrow and neither would anyone elses place of work.  Away from the headlines and the news stories, everyone is actually just living the same as they were before the media took such a great interest in inter Korea relations.

Q2. Are you even thinking of coming home?

No. Yesterday, North Korea did indeed advise foreigners in South Korea to leave.  As of the time of writing this (April 10th), I have no immediate plans and see no need to return to Ireland.  Foreigners here have jobs, lives and responsibilities that will continue despite threats. Like all responsible expats, I will be closely monitoring and heeding any advice from the Irish Embassy in Korea and making decisions accordingly. 

Q3.  Should Mammy and Daddy Browne be as worried as they are?

 No, definitely not.  I recommend that Mammy and Daddy Browne stop reading CNN, BBC or any other major news source that is getting great air time and page coverage out of all this and spend that time skyping me so they can see how normal and continuously boring everything still is. 

It’s good to be informed and normal to be concerned but people shouldn’t believe everything they read or hear in the media. 

Q4. Has anything changed in your daily routine because of the current situation?

Yes.  I’ve stopped reading CNN.  

Q5. Why don’t the foreigners just leave?

This is my favourite question.  It makes it seem like foreigners have nothing to do but sit around wondering whether North Korea are going to bomb us or not.  Really, we have jobs, lives, responsibilities.  And there are the foreigners here who have families. So far, those jobs, lives and responsibilities haven’t changed in the slightest so you can see that leaving isn’t exactly top of our agenda. Did I mention how my school wouldn’t be too happy if I decided I wasn’t going to work tomorrow?

Q6. What signs of imminent war are there over there?

I’m sure there are loads, but not for the life of me can I find any in Geumchon. 

 You can see that my life is the same old same old . I’ve got to go now because I’m busy planning whether to go shopping after school or go home and get my washing done.The greatest concern in my life this very second is that one of  my best friends in Korea is leaving (because her contract is finished) so tonight we’re going for a goodbye Galbi and a glass of wine.   Then there’s the weekend to continue planning not to mention the fact that I need an accordion, a new computer and a fringe (not all in that order). And when I’m finished with all that, I’ll keep busy with the very exciting life I outlined above.  As ever, if you have questions, leave them below.

Let me tell you a story……

Back in the day when I lived in Ireland, I had a driver’s license and a car. I would bomb all over Ireland in that great car (which has since passed away). This is the car, Suzy. Apologies for the fact that she’s sideways.

In the 3 years, I was driving in Ireland, I only got breathilised once.  And what a great adventure that was.

It was a Friday night and my sister, Kathryn (I have 2 sisters) and I were returning from a Chinese in Nenagh.  We were driving the home car.  At the time, I’m pretty sure Suzy the Suzuki wasn’t yet on the scene.  It was a really quiet night and there were hardly any other cars on the road.  We were almost out of the town when we saw the flashing lights and realised that we were going to be stopped at the checkpoint.

Normally, this would freak people out but for me it was the first checkpoint of any sort since I got my full license so I was pretty excited.  We drive up to the Garda, roll down the window and after the usual small talk (where are you going, what are you doing here etc) she asked if she could test my breath for alcohol.  By this time, I was so happy that it was really happening that I replied “NNNNNNNOOOOOOOOO problem”  The Garda looked at us and said ” I thought you were saying no. I’m just out of Templemore*, I wouldn’t have known what to do”. When I stopped laughing at this she gave me the instructions,

1. Blow into the bag

2. Stop when you hear the beep

It was that simple.  Not knowing how long it would be until the beep, I took a deep breath and blew into the bag. However, after about 2 seconds I heard a beep so I stopped.  It was more of a puff than a breath really but a beep is a beep.  At this stage, I’m pretty sure the Garda thought there was something wrong with me (possibly I had been drinking????) So she had to change the bag and then gave me the second set of instructions,

1. Blow into the bag

2. Stop when you hear the big beep.

If she had said that the first time, there wouldn’t have been any problem to start with.  So, once again I blew into the bag.  Except this time I almost ran out of breath listening carefully for the damn beep that eventually came.  I passed (surprise) and so we went on our way back to Ballybrowne.  That was the last time I was breathalised until………..a month ago.

Skip 5 years to my driving in Korea.  I’ve had my car (Spuddy) since November. In the last 4 weeks, I’ve been breath tested 3 times. That’s twice more than in my 3 years driving in Ireland. But the whole experience here is a little bit of a let down compared to the adventure in Ireland.  My first breath test here was driving home from Ilsan.  At first, I thought it was an accident scene, until the traffic was reduced to two lanes.  It eventually dawned on me that it was a drink driving checkpoint and again I was super excited.  I knew there was a blog coming out of this.

I drive up, roll down the window and expect to see a device similar to the one in Ireland.  Instead the police officer put a rectangular shaped device in front of my mouth and told me to blow into the square.  It took a full 2 seconds before the light turned green and I had to drive away.  What a let down.

The other two times I got stopped were coming home from Munsan and randomly outside my apartment complex in Geumchon.  I think there’s a conspiracy here somewhere, but that’s for another day……….

*If you’re not Irish;

a Garda is a police officer

Templemore is where the Gardai train

Nenagh is in Tipperary

Irish Girl in a Korean supermarket- Part 2

What’s worse than one Irish girl in a Korean supermarket? TWO Irish girls in a Korean supermarket.  Since most foods are pretty familiar to me now, I thought I’d walk around with Clare, who arrived a few months ago.  I tried to focus on the normal foods so people would be reassured that they weren’t going to starve if they came here.  So here’s what we came up with;

Yellow Melons; Although they’re called Yellow Melons in English, I had never seen them a day in my life before coming to Korea.  They’re super popular in summer and surprisingly enough, they are also quite delicious. 

Boiled Lotus Root Slices; Here’s one I just learned last night.  Honestly, I’ve been eating these things at school for ages and never knew what they were.  Until last night of course.  Thankfully, my English is pretty good so I simply read the name.  What do they taste like? I wouldn’t know.  Although I eat them, they look kind of dangerous so I mix them in with rice and other food stuffs.  Are they healthy? Well they haven’t made me a Ninja yet so they can’t be that great. 

Ho duk; I really don’t know what to call these in English.  I think it’s sweet pancakes (although a Korean can correct me if that’s not accurate). They are super delicious. Pancake mix with cinnamon in the middle. Great in the cold weather and if you buy them from a stand they are only 1,000won or less.  They also come with Green Tea mix as well as the regular mix.  And you don’t need an oven to make them, only a frying pan.  Win win. This packet was on sale also so for less than 2,000won I’m going to have some delicious Ho Duk.

Kimbap component; This is the radish that goes into Kimbap.  If you’re making a million kimbap, buy a packet of these and your sorted.  Some people are actually brave enough to eat this by itself but personally I prefer mine mixed with all the other stuff in Kimbap. 

Another Kimbap component; I could have called it Seasoned Burdock but chose not to because I didn’t know what it was called until I took the picture.  Again, it goes in Kimbap. I’ve never seen it eaten on its own (or maybe I have but didn’t connect the dots).

 

Dairy Items; Just to prove that things here are super normal, I took a picture of the dairy section.  You can find yoghurt and all kinds of drinks and the like.

Snack Foods; The first one is like a Honey Pancake.  Unlike the one before, you buy these ones already made and it’s not cinnamon on the inside.  The picture on the right are sugary balls of flour mix.  It’s really hard to describe. 

 

Tea; The top one is Honey Citron Tea which is like Marmalade but you add water and drink it.  The bottom one is Honey Chinese Quince Tea.  Quince is a type of pear, same deal here, add water and drink it.  I’m sure its good for Vitamin C and all but there’s a lot of sugar in it so don’t go mad drinking it. 

The fish; This was definitely the highlight of the trip.  We were walking around the frozen foods and stumbled across these fish tied together.  Many questions came to mind, 1. Why? 2. How would you get this home if you didn’t have a car? 3. How would you go about cooking this? 4. Who buys this? 5. Why? 6. Where would you keep this when you get home? We must have looked like we were in distress because  the very friendly lady came over and we asked how you would cook/eat this.  She gave us this look, as if we were stupid and said “oh you just cook it”. Excellent, thanks, that really clears it up for us.  Any Korean reading this might be able to answer the question. 

Octopus and Squid; This is exactly what it says on the tin.  Octopus and squid, in a regular packet and in a form where you don’t need directions on how to cook it. 

Mandu; Mandu are dumplings in English.  Possibly one of my favourite foods in Korea.  And you can cook and eat them in loads of different ways.  You can boil them, fry them or eat them in a soup.  They come in pork flavour and Kimchi flavour.  Super handy and super easy to cook. 

If you’re looking for toothpaste, look no further.  You can find Bamboo Salt, Tiger Herb, Forest fresh and all kinds of other equally attractive toothpaste flavours. 

We finally made it to the sweet aisle.  As Clare pointed out, they really love My Chews in Korea (picture on the left).  But they also have loads of other random sweets  and crisps.  No Taytos and no salt and vinegar flavour but shrimp, pizza, original and all other kinds of random flavours. 

Our best find on the sweet aisle was………

 

I can’t find the words……..

 

Having a supermarket adventure is hungry work so we took a well deserved rest and had some food with the other cool kids who were also hanging out in Home Plus,

Huge thanks to Clare Gaffney for coming along on the supermarket adventure.  As ever, leave your comments below.

Letters from Ireland

Not everyone can lay claim to the world’s best parents, but I can.  Mammy and Daddy Browne are a force to be reckoned with.  They are the ultimate team and when I grow up , I hope I can be somewhat as brilliant as they are.  But although they’re the best, I didn’t think they’d actually reply to all 28 letters I sent them as part of my letter writing challenge in February.  But they did!

As I sat with my cup of Barry’s, I couldn’t help but laugh.  These letters, in 2 sides of an A4 page, managed to give me a full run down of the local news, gossip and goings on as well as a “back in my day” revision.  They were so brilliant, I reckon my parents should start their own blog. Just the perfect balance of Irishness with a hint of parent.  There were definite themes that kept arising in the letters so I’m going to outline the views from Ireland below.

My mother on all things Korean; Anything my parents know about Korea either I told them and they don’t believe or they hear it on the news and take it as completely accurate.  When enquiring about the movie scene here it was; “Do you have cinemas over there and if so are you behind or in front of us in terms of movies”?

Following on with the idea that I play music in Korea.  Replying to my letter where I explained about playing at St. Patrick’s Day with my trio she said, “Are they Korean nationality or do they speak English”? Can’t be both, you must choose one!

Later, she asked if there were any supermarkets or was it all just small shops.  She’s going to get such a shock when she arrives (possibly later this summer) to find that you almost need a map to get out of Home Plus alive.

Thankfully, they were all quite impressed by my mad Korean skills ( I wrote half a letter in Korean).  According to Mammy Browne however, Korea is “like Morse Code” and “I don’t know how you do it”. What can I say, mad skills……

My mother on Roscrea and its supermarkets; Our local town in Ireland is Roscrea.  It’s not that big, actually it’s about 10 times smaller than Paju, that gives you an idea.  It’s a regular Irish town, nothing special apart from the country’s best rashers, sausages and musicians.  This is the town that we go to all the time for groceries, bank, everything.  According to Mum, in the 4 years since I left, “the town of Roscrea has gotten so quiet, no problem getting a parking space in the centre”.  That’s how we measure economic growth in Roscrea, availability of parking spaces in the centre.   There are also 4 supermarkets.  but in these bleak economic times “I really wonder how the four supermarkets stay open, there is a fierce piece competition between them all”. Then there was the usual rant about Easter related products ripping people off. And people buying it all up anyway.  Mum, if you’re reading this, is there any chance you’ll send me a maltesers Easter egg? Or just the maltesers?

Love; A good number of these letters were dropping hints on the notion that I should soon start thinking of getting married.  Dad went as far as to pick out an eligible candidate and send a letter with his credentials, road frontage availability etc. Excellent.  Mum was much more subtle in her hints.  While talking about the “anything goes” fashion of today, she mentions how she only buys clothes “for the special occasion”. Nod nod wink wink. She also dedicated a letter to the discussion she had with Dad about how couples meet each other these days.  And there started the “and back in my day, and I’m going back to 1975″ speech.  This lovely trip down memory lane outlined how couples would meet at the dances and spend ages picking out dresses and hair styles and shoes and how everyone knew the dances (heaven forbid they wouldn’t know the dances). And they would all spend great times looking forward to meeting each other.At that time marriage was forever not like the “young wans these days”.

So I think the message is, hurry up and get married but don’t be in too much of a hurry because you don’t want to be stuck with the wrong person (possibly someone who doesn’t know Ceili dancing or hates Irish music).  I’ll work on it.

To finish things up I’ll give you a review of the things I’ve learned from the letters that nobody thinks important to tell me on Skype;

1. My mother has been playing the concertina for ages and I didn’t even know. She has also been studying theory of music and the piano and is always doing exams.  She’s now only 2 grades from finishing all 8. Fair play Mum. Fighting!

2. My mother has no sense of rhythm.  Although this is what she says but I always knew I got my rhythm from my father.  

3. For my grandfathers age, he has great eye sight and is in great health “not a fear of him” I hear.

4. My cousins are so big now, that most of them are in school, or leaving school.  I don’t know why I’m so shocked, it has been 4 years.

5.  Even though it’s been ages since I’ve been home, everything is the same.  Nothing has changed and it’s business as usual.