Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Old Clothes



I sent an Email to my son at my house requesting that he throw away all of my old clothes, shoes, coats, everything. It took this trip to show how much I have been hoarding in my house. It is true that I have lost weight and much of what I have does not fit anymore, but I had too much anyhow. I can see that clearly now. Most of what I had, I did not wear anyhow. I kept it just in case I did need it. When I retired from my regular job, I kept most of what I wore to my regular 40 hour a week job. I did not need it anymore.

There is a lot of things that I can see I was hoarding in my house. When the clothes is gone, I am going to start getting rid of other things as well. No one is using most of the stuff I have been keeping in my house as I said. My son said they threw out much of my old food as it was outdated. I just could not get myself to throw it out. Now, I live in a small apartment and there is no hoarding here at all. What is not used is thrown out or not bought at all.

One of the professors who is married to a Korean said that he got his furniture by visiting the trash containers of the large apartment complexes where he lives because when foreigners move they throw out everything. If there are any repairs to be made on what he finds, they are very slight.

I got my stuff for very little and there were no delivery charges. I bought three items and two of them were brand new and one was used and in good shape. I got just enough dishes, pots to serve two people and that is all. When I leave they all stay here.

I have a small wardrobe and make repairs to what I have. There is no such thing as large sizes in Korea and by large size I mean anything over the size of 9. I know many people who are size 12 who can't get anything here at all. One teacher waits for her yearly trip to her home in the US to buy needed items. You can't imagine how hard it is for someone who is losing weight. I make guesses and ask for things to be sent here. So far, I have been lucky.

There are Koreans who are larger than the average and I have no idea where they are getting their clothes. They are still a small miniority and suffer greatly from other Koreans. One woman who is not over-weight but not pencil thin is asked by her husband to lose weight often. I think the entire country must have an eating disorder and what they must think of me with my real over-weight is up to question.

That is not to say that I have not learned from this whole experience. I have. I have learned to live on a whole less. I have learned that it is best not to keep the huge amount of stuff that I have been gathering in my home. I didn't need it anyway. There is a saying that you can't take it with you when you finally die and although I am not counting on doing that in the very near future, it is something to think about. Just what was I saving all that stuff for anyway?

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