dinner with my new coworkers

These young fellas are two of my new coworkers (they look much different - and much younger - in casual clothes than in the suits they were wearing when I met them during the interview). They took me out to dinner last night. We had galbi at a nice restaurant, followed by ice cream outside of a convenience store - very Korean all around :-)

At times the conversation was a little awkward and stilted - after all, what do two Korean men in their twenties have to say to an American woman in her thirties? But they were quite nice and dinner was pleasant. This was my favorite episode:

Coworker: What kind of places for tourists are there in Ukraine?
Me: Well, my friends and I are planning on going to Chernobyl.*
Coworker: Chernobyl?! Isn't that dangerous?
Me: Meh. A little.
Coworker: Do you have to wear special radiation suits?
Me: No.
Coworker: Why don't you just go to Fukushima? The plane ticket would be cheaper.

*The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was recently closed to tourists. Not too clear on the reasons for the closure, but there is hope that it will be reopened in August - or if not, it is entirely possible that bribery shall suffice to open the gates.

Moving Pains

Saturday morning I took my super-large suitcase, my super-large backpacker backpack, and my laptop backpack and headed for Seoul to commence my move. I unpacked and then went out and bought a bunch of stuff for the apartment (kitchen and bathroom things, pillows, bedding, etc - the kind of stuff I have in Daegu but won't be lugging up to Seoul with me). After three shopping trips (each time returning with essentially as much as I could carry) I was exhausted.

Want to know how I spent my first Saturday night in happening Hongdae? I was sound asleep by 8pm. I woke up around midnight, made myself dinner, watched an episode of Fringe, and went back to bed. I woke up at 10:00am. Yeah. And holy shit, muscle aches. I took way too many Aleve today, and the pain has yet to subside. On the plus side, my apartment no longer looks empty and depressing; it now looks rather like my home. My landlord even gave me a free desk and chair, so that's one less thing I need to buy. Take a peek:

Free desk and chair





Now that looks more like *my* home!


One of my friends and I had recently been talking on Facebook about how mimosas reminded us of our childhood - the villa next to my new apartment has a huge mimosa tree :-)

My apartment is in the grey building

I took this Sunday night from the subway, crossing the Han River at dusk between Dangsan and Hapjeong after having dinner with some of my new coworkers


My neighborhood at dusk


There's a vet clinic just around the corner from my new apartment! Very convenient. I love the dragon on the sign... catering to the Targaryens no doubt!


My neighborhood at dusk

I really like my new apartment - not so sure I'm going to dig the 45 minute commute (and that's just four subway stops!), but considering that if I'd lived much closer to Yeouido I'd be paying more for a smaller apartment, I think it's worth it. Of course, my new apartment won't truly feel like home until I have Charlie here (and she won't make the move until September). A house really isn't a home until one has one's cat in it.

And now that I've written this.... it's time to hop the KTX back to Daegu; I've got four more days of work left down there before my six weeks of mad circumnavigatory travel begin :-)

sunny day, sweepin' the clouds away...

No more nasty rainy weather for now (although more is predicted for this weekend). Instead what we had to day were beautiful blue skies and smotheringly hot heat. I walked to the post office in the middle of the day, carrying two packages, and by the time I was back in the land of AC, I felt like I might die. I got a couple of fun photos though (with my point-n-shoot, not my DSLR... I didn't feel like carrying it in addition to the packages!) - enjoy!

Charlie and Friend, Part 2

Charlie's friend - the stray orange cat - has been popping over to my balcony to visit. Keep an eye on the window when Charlie starts playing with the pillow.

charlie awakens

SlutWalk Seoul (I wish I'd known!)

Apparently the SlutWalk phenomenon has made it to Korea... and SlutWalk Seoul was this past Saturday. Had I known, I would've tracked them down instead of tramping about Jongmyo in the rain. Roboseyo has an excellent post on SlutWalk Seoul that I think everyone should read... so CLICK HERE to check it out!

Home Sweet Hovel: House Hunting in Seoul

I went to Seoul and rented an apartment today; I'll be moving my stuff in next weekend. Yes, I am renting an apartment for my stuff to sit in while I'm away during August. I truly believe it will be worth it just so I can get off the plane in September and head straight to *my* house. I didn't have too many preferences: not too far from my workplace, low key money, and rent below $1000/mo. ['Key money' is the Korean equivalent of a down payment or security deposit - but if you want to live in something larger than a studio, your key money could easily run you $5000-$10000 - or much more if you're looking to rent a family-sized place. You do get it back when you move out, but that's a lot of money to drop at once.]

With the help of a super-awesome realtor (kind of pricey, but worth every penny based on her reliability, helpfulness, and great attitude - if you need a realtor in Seoul, let me know and I'll send you her email). She hooked me up with a semi-furnished studio in Hongdae, for $700/mo, $700 key money - four stops by subway (albeit with one transfer) from Yeouido, where I'll be working. It also comes with free internet and free cable TV. Granted, I'll have to buy a tv, but woohoo! I do like free things. Especially internet. And it's just around the corner from a Paris Baguette, home to my daily breakfast: the sugar-coated fried dough stuffed with cream cheese. It's also located in a brand new building, and I'll be the first person to rent the place. The whole building still smells new. It's not much to look at (especially empty!), but take a peek:

When I left Daegu early this morning, the weather was gorgeous: all sunshine and blue skies for the first time in weeks.


About 20 minutes north of Daegu a few clouds started to appear...

Luckily I wore my rain boots, because unlike in Daegu, the weather in Seoul was miserable. The realtor and I were pretty drenched by the time we were through running about. However, after taking care of the whole apartment rental business, I figured that rain or no I should make *some* use of my time in Seoul. After all, I'd KTXed it up there, which is an $80 round trip. I needed to get my money's worth.

I decided to head for the Jongmyo Shrine (with the idea of also visiting the Changgyeong Palace located next door). I'd visited both sites before - but that was wayyyyy back in 2004, back in my Canon Powershot 35mm film days. I figured they definitely deserved some DSLR treatment. Unfortunately, today was NOT the day for it. After wandering around Jongmyo in rain ranging from drizzle to downpour, while trying to shoot the DSLR one handed (having an umbrella in the other) for about an hour, I decided it was time to return to Daegu. I didn't get many decent photos, but here are a few.

This was my favorite photo of the day :-)