The Ramblings of Loren Christopher

I’ve been wanting to visit this site for quite a while. I first read about it on the Gangdong-Gu website (Gangdong is the district of Seoul that I live in), and thought that since it’s so close it would be worth checking out. Admittedly the reason I hadn’t gone is because I didn’t think it would be that impressive. I was expecting 4 or 5 old straw houses and a plaque written in Korean that I wouldn’t be able to understand.

After I paid the ridiculous 500 won entrance fee (ridiculous because it may as well be free, that’s like charging someone 10 cents….more hassle than it’s worth) I was given an English brochure about the area. I walked in and realized it was much bigger than I had assumed. Sure enough there were the straw houses, huts, settlements, whatever you wish to call them.

You know these people lived here over 6,000 years ago? They discovered ancient artifacts after some big flood in the city in 1925, and have since excavated other pots and weaponry from the site. It is pretty cool actually to walk around there and imagine that SOOO long ago there were people in my neighborhood hunting and fishing and making settlements.

They have an exhibition hall where you can view the real artifacts that they uncovered such as combed pottery, weapons, tools, etc. I was surprised by the amount of English they had. And of course, as with many exhibitions and museums in Korea, they had the creepy mannequins that are build to re-enact scenes of a family sitting around a fire, or kids pulling in a net of fish from the Han River. These mannequins really freak me out for some reason, I’d much rather leave it to my imagination.

The good thing about this place is that it’s not at all crowded. I went today (Saturday) and there were only a few groups of school children on tours, but other than that it was pretty empty. This was nice considering today was beautiful and they actually have a large park where you can just chill out. Some old Korean men were playing the Asian chess game at a picnic table of course.

If you’re living in the area I would definitely suggest checking it out, or if you are interested in Korean history then of course you should see it. Gangdong-gu’s district mascots are actually a cartoon cave-boy (Gangdongmi) and cave-girl (Gangdongei) and you see them on sign posts around the area, haha. There is some big festival every year at the Asma-dong Prehistoric Settlement site, it takes place in October although I can’t tell you much more about it now….I’ll have to ask my students and co-workers.

Choosing to stay in Seoul longer than a year and choosing to engage in the history and culture allows you see much more than you would otherwise.  Looking back, part one of this series “Quirks of the City” looks so silly (albeit still true).


Just today I had dinner at Kraze Burger (a Westernish chain burger joint) with my best friend here and co-worker, Ashley.  We had a coupon for a discount on our meal.  Just before Ashley handed it over she realized that it had already expired.  I said, “Don’t worry, give it to them anyway, they’ll probably give us the discount regardless.”  Sure enough, the manager proudly said something to the effect of, “I’m sorry, but your coupon has expired.  Normally we would reject this, but because you are two of our favorite customers, we will renew it.”


And let me just say Ashley and I don’t “frequent” that place at all…they were gracious because we are foreigners.  The same thing has happened to me many times.  When I first arrived in the city and a business man crossing the street stopped dead in his tracks when I asked for help, called his English-speaking friend for me, and let me use his cell phone.  Visiting an ecological park near my home that was reservation only, the guard kindly bowed and let me pass, explaining “Because you’re a foreigner, it’s ok if you don’t have a reservation.”  Even a couple months ago when it was drizzling outside and I was waiting at the bus stop outside my apartment (without umbrella), a little middle school boy saw me and ran up to me…standing on his tip-toes he held his tiny little umbrelly over my head until my bus came.


It boggles my mind that people can say Koreans aren’t kind.  They must not get out much or make the slightest effort.  This kindness is engraved in Koreans, it’s called “정” (jeong).  This is such a hard word to translate–jeong.  One of my Korean friends put it to me like this;  let’s say you love apples.  You haven’t eaten apples in a long time and you just got home from buying a fresh couple of apples at the market.  Your neighbor then randomly knocks on your door to “borrow a cup of sugar”.  You offer the sugar, but you offer the apples too even though you love them.  That is jeong.


It manifests itself in many ways here in Korea, at the dinner table is one example.  The elder almost always pays for dinner and/or drinks.  This is to be expected and seriously not to be contested (it’s rude to insist on paying when an elder is offering because you’re practically saying that they’re too poor to afford to pay).  The interesting thing is, the elders gladly pay the bill….because when they were young they had elders that helped feed them and paid for their meals every now and then.  To honor them, it is their turn to pay.  Likewise, the younger people at the table kindly accept the free meal, knowing that one day they too, will “pay it forward” when they are older.

It’s that time of year again, my precious week vacation in the summer.  Last year I went to Beijing and Shanghai over the summer break, but this year I had my eyes set on Russia.  It’s a country I’ve always been curious about, mostly because of the dark history and the Cold War.  So, here I am finally (arrived yesterday) and I still cannot believe I am in Russia right now!!  Haha.

The flight was lacking in leg room and smiles, but we landed safely, went straight on through immigration without any questions.  I had heard so many stories of people getting hung up at immigration and being drilled a bunch of questions, but it took less than a minute, she just checked my tourist visa (which WAS a grueling process to get) and let me on through.

The train ride into the center of Moscow was interesting.  I got a chance to see the slums.  Small small little rooms with tin roofs all adjacent to one another.  Packs of wild dogs (big scary wolf-looking dogs) roaming around.  It justified my feelings that I didn’t want to backpack through the country or venture out of the city on my own, not this trip at least.

My hotel is lovely….room service, about 8 different restaurants, spa, pool, casino, the whole nine yards.  I checked in last night and hopped on the subway to go straight into the city center (it stays light out until around 11:30pm).  I had heard that the subway stations were beautiful, and they are!  Marble columns, statues, frescoes, murals, chandeliers….but all old looking, definitely was like that under the Soviet Union.  It’s very cool to see all this stuff firsthand!!

Anyway, I headed to the Red Square.  I found my way around a few corners, and then all of a sudden through a big red gate I could see St. Basil’s Cathedral off in the distance.  I seriously stopped, smiled, and said “Oh my god.”  I was in a trance and just kept walking closer and closer with a huge smile on my face thinking “I cannot believe I’m really here right now, this is crazy!”

Not to brag, but I am a fairly seasoned traveler (23 countries).  There are amazing things I’ve done and seen….but it is hard to remember the last time I was in awe of being somewhere monumental like this.  The Great Wall of China was cool, but I could believe I was there.  The Acropolis was amazing, but it didn’t give me goosebumps.  Walking around the Red Square though (yesterday and today), I still cannot shake the feeling of wonder.

So I snapped some pictures last night before it got dark.  Walked around just a bit and then headed back to my hotel.  Today was a big day though.  I went back to the Red Square and did a tour of the Kremlin.  Again, just drove myself nuts thinking about how Nicholas II, Stalin, Lenin and many others have lived on the grounds I was now walking on.  I don’t idolize those people, that’s not it.  They are just such huge figures of history.

Well the Kremlin is enormous and it took about 5 hours to see (and I didn’t see everything).  The Armory was my favorite though.  It houses jewels from the previous Russian dynasties.  They had everything there….Catherine the Great’s wedding dress, the throne of Ivan the Terrible, amazing jewelry, crowns and chariots covered in gold.  It was more than impressive!  I went on to see the changing of the guards at the eternal flame memorial for the Russians who died in WWII.  The guards picked their legs up as high as their heads when they walked, and then stomped their black leather boots against the pavement.  I got it on video…super cool.

I went into St. Basil’s, walked around the Kremlin, went to a couple other cathedrals, ate at a really good Russian restaurant (had sausage), then went to a souvenir shopping district called Arbat.  The place was really interesting and reminded me of the French Quarter in New Orleans kind of, except it was Russian, not French.  I bought a couple things, but am doing more shopping tomorrow.  I was exhausted from the day and am now back at the hotel for the night.

Tomorrow I’m going shopping, will visit the Cosmonaut Museum, The Bolshoi Theatre, maybe take a riverboat tour at night.  I’m also supposed to meet up with a couple friends I met a long time ago through couchsurfing.

What else to say about this city.  It’s not quite what I expected.  It seems much safer than I imagined.  The people remind me of the Czechs (I find myself thinking about Prague a lot while I’m here), but the Russians are different in a lot of ways it seems.  Customer service is NOT their forte.  I was confused when I went into St. Basil’s Cathedral….I had bought an entry ticket and paid a little extra to be able to take photos inside.  

There was some confusion with the lady who takes your ticket at the door.  She wa trying to explain to me (in RUSSIAN) that I needed a different ticket.  I was confused and quickly whipped out my miming techniques.  ”Photo” (pointing to my camera) “Ticket” (showing the ticket) “I paid” (place one hand over chest….with other hand, rub fingers together to symbolize money).  I was sure she’d get it.  Instead she shook her head and gave me the “shoo, get out of here” signal, while murmuring something under her breath.  Now you must keep in mind, Czech and Russian are similar languages, and I did learn a couple curse words in Czech….I am 99% sure that she told me to “f*** off” in Russian.  She works at a CATHEDRAL folks, come on!!

It all worked out in the end though.  The people have been through an enormous amount of history.  I was watching this 90-year old woman on the subway, just wishing I could sit down with her and a translator and ask her questions.  Geeze, she has lived through Stalin, Lenin, WWII, the Cold War, the Soviet Union, and now the Russia of today.  Can you imagine??

I am absolutely fascinated by this city and my eyes are wide open taking everything in all the time.  Two more full days here, then I’m riding 1st class on an overnight train to St. Petersburg, which I have a feeling will be more beautiful, less communistic feeling, more European-like.  But, we shall see…

For more pictures of my trip in Moscow, go to my Moscow flickr album.

Korea is so funny sometimes.  You travel just a couple hours away from Seoul (or less) and soon stumble across some special sight or nature that takes you into a completely different world.  Whether it’s hills of green tea fields, deep caves that go on forever, rocky cliff beaches, bamboo forests, or in the case of today….a sheep farm that looks as though it is set in the hills of Scotland, Korea still amazes me.

I am a big fan of the Official Korean Tourism Guide website , and had stumbled across some information about this sheep farm a couple hours west of Seoul.  The photos caught my interest, and I decided I had to go visit just to see if it really was that beautiful!  After having lived here for a year and a half, I still have slip-ups getting around.  The website said that the bus station to go to is Heonggye, but in Korean it reads quite different.  So I had some difficulty getting a ticket, finally went to an internet cafe near the big bus terminal and found out how it was written in Korean and realized I had been pronouncing it totally wrong.

(future note for those of you who decide to visit, it is pronounced Hwayng-gyae, not Heonggye)

Half of the reason I enjoy visiting places around Korea is simply the bus ride itself.  The sheep farm is located in Gangwangdo, which is a really mountainous province.  I was reading today on the bus ride over there, that an ancient Chinese philosopher once said of Korea, “If you could somehow squash the entire country flat, it would be as big as China.”  That may be ’stretching’ it a bit too far…but it does indeed have some beautiful mountains.

Well, 2 and a half hours later I arrived in Heonggye (see proper pronunciation above).  Take a taxi to the farm from the bus terminal, it will cost you about 10 minutes and 7,000 won.  I was actually quite worried because I had read online that the farm would close if the weather wasn’t permitting, and it looked like it was about to rain any minute.  They were open though (9am-6pm in the summer, 9am-5pm in the winter) and for just about 2 bucks entry fee I was hiking my way up the green hills, surrounded by a sea of Koreans.  I was the only foreigner there, didn’t see a single other one today!

I am exaggerating the hike, it really wasn’t so bad.  Evidently they care for over 200 sheep here on the farm.  Pretty soon I could hear them “Baaa”-ing (so cute, I laughed when I first heard them) and started spotting them everywhere.  At first you walk by their stables where some are hanging out and eating hay.  You can buy a little basket of hay and feed them yourself if you want….the Koreans were taking full advantage of this opportunity for a photo shoot.  Young couples taking turns feeding and snapping shots of each other with their cell phones, families with the little kids throwing hay at the sheep and yelling “Yangi, meoggeo!!” [Sheep, eat it!]  (yeah my Korean is getting better, haha.)

A bit further up and you have to stop and turn around to admire the view!  Just amazing green mountains everywhere, the rain was about to come so you could smell it in the air, but it was also much cooler for being July.  I snapped some photos of course, which felt REALLY good.

I have been so busy with my promotion, working on projects, and studying Korean that I have hardly had any time to be creative and work on my photography skills lately.  This Saturday I set aside specifically to enjoy myself and be out in nature.  Who knew that a trip to Scotland was just a couple hours away?  I hope to go back and explore the area more again, possibly in the winter since they have a big ski resort nearby too.

My friend from university has been in town this week (another visitor, I swear I had no idea so many people would come visit me in Seoul…had six so far).  Unfortunately we didn’t get much time to hang out since she only had a few days and was seeing a couple other people as well.

Today we went to ChangGyeong Palace.  Out of all the palaces in Seoul and Korea, this one is by far my favorite one.  I had only been during winter months when the trees were dead, so this was my first time seeing it in its new spring glory.  The reason this palace is so great is because there IS so much greenery everywhere you look.

Small pathways take you from one various chamber to another, you’re surrounded by trees and flowers the whole time….the lilacs were blooming and they smelled so nice.  I can imagine it would be beautiful in the fall too when all the leaves are changing colors.  The first time I visited ChangGyeongGung we did an English tour, which I would definitely recommend.  It IS interesting learning about how these people lived, and how many of the customs carried over into present-day Korea.

For example, when you look inside even the living quarters, you notice that there is no furniture.  Koreans never used chairs or beds, they sat on the floor, ate on the floor, slept on the floor.  This is why it’s customary to take your shoes off at the door in so many Asian countries (who wants to eat off the same place where you walk around on your shoes?  you wouldn’t want someone walking on your dinner table in their sneakers right?).

Also, they had ondol floor heating even back in the 14th Century, you notice that all the palace buildings are raised to provide room for heating equipment underneath.  This is something that still exists today in Korea and is quite common–floor heating.  I have it in my apartment and it’s so convenient.  My feet never get cold, and in the winter is works so well in heating my whole place.

So, on this bright sunny day, a stroll around the palace was just more than perfect.  I’ll admit, palaces are a bit like cathedrals in the sense that they get old after a while.  Once you’ve seen a few, you begin to feel like you’ve seen them all.  This one though, has such a pleasant layout with nature that I thoroughly enjoy it each time I visit.

We were nearing the end of our walk when we spotted a group of Koreans dressed up in traditional Korean clothing.  Then, we saw more groups of them all marching in the same direction…such ornate clothing and each group wore a different color, bright reds, green, blue.  The colors represent the rankings and positions (i.e. the noble court, scribes, warriors, etc).  We were blown away by how many of them there were, obviously they were getting ready to perform some sort of ceremony, so we followed them into the main palace court.

Sure enough, they perform the customary “receiving of the king and his son” (at least that’s what it seemed like they were doing).  Quite an odd feeling watching the king being carried in on the throne while they were playing traditional music.  I felt like I had stepped back in time quite a few hundred years until I glanced over to the right above the rooftop and noticed a modern apartment building.

We definitely lucked out to see this type of ceremony.  I’m not sure what was special about today and why they were doing it…but it was VERY cool to see.  They have a “changing of the guards” ceremony twice a day at Gyeongbok Palace and I always thought that was pretty cool, but this put that to shame.  And, can I just say again how glad I am that spring is finally here again!?

A special treat arrived in the mail for me last weekend, a right angle lens.  It can be also referred to as a “spy lens”, but that sounds creepy and slightly perverse, so I prefer the term “right angle lens”.  So, I bought one of these because I’ve always been interested in street photography, and capturing the candid shots of people I see as I travel.  Unfortunately for me, I don’t have the courage to just ask them if I can take their picture.  And I’ve tried sneaking pictures of interesting looking people, but it never quite turns out the way I want.

So, I was pleased when I heard about this lens attachment….and last weekend I went out around Jongro (central Seoul) to test it out.  Jongro is a pretty happening area, particularly on the weekends.  There’s Insadong street which has loads of touristy stuff and shops, at night there are neon lights everywhere you look, bars, game rooms, all kinds of street food, and people everywhere.

I went in the late afternoon….the weather was perfect and I visited Tagpol Park.  This place is FILLED with old Korean men.  They all come here and play a traditional game called “Go“.  I have no idea how to play it myself, but it is comparable to our chess or checkers…..in that there is a board and there are pieces and you take turns playing.  I’m sure it’s more complicated obviously.

The point, however, is that this park is flooded with old Korean men who bring their games and they just sit around playing.  Some men will crowd around and watch particular games (I guess if they know it’s a good game).  Also there were some REALLY old men talking who had crowds gathered around listening to them.  I wish I had gone with one of my K-friends so I could have gotten a translation.

I like old people, especially of other ethnicities.  Old Koreans in particular amaze me because I cannot imagine how much change they have seen in their lifetime.  Just 50 years ago the entire country was ripped apart and starving….they had nothing.  Now you walk down the street and people are in designer clothing, using the latest technology phones, there are multinational corporations everywhere you look.  It’s amazing to think about.

That’s one of the reasons this country fascinates me so much.  There is an interesting juxtaposition of ancient (and somewhat archaic) societal hierarchies, customs, and traditions mixed with the ultra-modern and image conscious people of today.  Last Saturday, as I was walking around creepily taking pictures of strangers….lol, I tried to capture an essence of the people and why it is that I like this place so much.  For more photos you can check out my flickr page.

A couple weekends ago I went with friends to the east coast of S. Korea, we visited a small little beach city called Samcheok.  Things were starting to warm up a bit and we were all severely in the mood for a weekend getaway trip!

The bus ride (very comfortable bus) was almost 4 hours….we left around 7am so got there in good time.  We were dropped off at a small bus station, and after a few of our feeble attempts at conversing in Korean, we found out which local transport bus would take us down along the coast.

It was so nice to see the ocean again.  I’ve always said that I need to live near the water…there’s just something about it.  I never fully realize how much I love it until I’ve been landlocked for a while and then get to see the wide open ocean again.  The bus stopped along a few coves and beaches, and we just got off at the one that we thought looked the most beautiful.

We searched around for a 민박

 (guesthouse) and found a lovely one right by the water so we checked in.  The owner was an older Korean man and was soo nice.  It was the start of the tourist season so we were the only people there, perhaps some of the first customers of the season, so he was waiting on us hand and foot to make sure we had everything we needed, hehe.

We immediately dropped off our bags and took a stroll along the beach.  Mind you, when I say it was “starting to warm up” in Korea, it was still a little chilly and the water was FREEZING so none of us went for a swim.  It was nice to walk in the sand again though, hear the waves, look out into the blue blue water.

We ventured further down the coast to a park (actually hitched a ride on a high school bus, which was hilarious).  Haeshindang Park is beautiful.  I’d been there before, but not with my big group of friends so I wanted to show them.  The water is beautiful and there’s a big rocky cove that is just stunning.  I felt like I was back on one of the Greek islands!

So, our first day was a relaxing one….we headed into town before sunset and ate at a lovely Italian restaurant called “Buona”, then had Baskin Robbins and walked around a bit.  We actually ran into a couple other foreigners who live in Samcheok so we were talking with them.  They said there are only about 30 foreigners in the entire city…seems like they all relatively know each other.  They verified that there’s not much to do there, but it is a scenic place to live.  The thought of living there for a year just did not appeal to 

me at all, haha.  I’d rather go there for a vacation any day.  Seoul has it’s crowds and long subway rides, etc, but at least you could never get bored here.

The next day we headed to Hwibangsa cave….our guesthouse owner was gracious enough to chauffeur us all the way over there for a nominal fee.  This cave is the largest limestone cave in all of Asia.  It was so big!!  It’s cool that they had bigger walkways and colored lights here and there to give it a more dramatic effect.  Definitely a must for anyone planning on visiting Samcheok.

The walk up to the cave was a little exhausting, and it was drizzly out.  But the fog and drizzle really set the mood as we were up in the mountains.

Coming back to Seoul, we felt like we got a lot out of the trip.  Sandy relaxing beaches, and then foggy mountains and a huge cave….not bad for just two days and one night.  Like I said, this was my second time visiting Samcheok, but I’ve enjoyed it so much both times that I’m not sure if it will be my last.

Moving into a nicer apartment, although tedious and stressful, has really made me enjoy my life in Korea even more.  When I lived in Prague I rented a room from an old flat, the location was incredible (just a block from the Vltava River), I lived with one of my best friends and an sweet older Czech woman who was full of life.  But the place was old and I put little to no effort into making it my own.

When I came to Korea, one of my priorities in getting settled in was to decorate my place and make it feel like “me”.  I did a decent job of that in my last apartment, but my new place really does feel like my home.  It’s important to invest in some decor I think, even for those people who come to Korea only for a year…..because your home should be your haven, right?

Ok anyway, the house-warming party was lots of fun.  I made Mexican food, tacos complete with guacamole, sour cream, cheese, pico de gallo and Mexican rice (thanks Molly for bringing that!).  It was sooo delicious I couldn’t believe it, haha.  So we just hung out and laughed, listened to music, etc. until evening came and then we went to the busy area Cheonho and had a couple beers.  It was perfect.

My building was made in 2003 I believe….so it’s fairly new.  I think I’ve said before that my location is a bit farther away from work, but there are so many more things to do and see here in Gangdong.  I’m anxious for it to warm up a bit so I can go exploring more.  All in all, I’m very pleased with the new place and will be staying here again if I decide to renew my contract after another year (wow, that’s a long ways down the rode though), one thing at a time.

If you’d prefer to watch a video tour of me showing the apartment, you can click here.  Be warned I had just woken up and am in my PJs, haha.  Also here are a few thumbnail pics below:

So my Valentine’s weekend was pretty eventful and fulfilling to say the least.  It all began early in the morning Saturday.  It was gray, not too cold.  I was meeting Molly at the fabric market in Dongdaemun because she had never been, and I also needed to get some fabric for my new place (which by the way is completely finished and I will post about next time).

I used to enjoy cruising down the aisles of Joann’s or Hancock Fabrics back in the states.  Inspiration was something you searched for in the textiles, and hopefully you found it on sale or in the new arrivals.  Shopping for fabric at this place is an entirely different experience though.

Little did I know, that in the 1970’s this building was the largest market in all of Asia.  You can believe it though when you’re walking around the place.  It has about 7 or 8 floors, each consisting of different textiles like bedding, traditional Korean prints for hanboks, two floors of just fabric, a level of only beads, buttons and ribbons.

The building is huge, small pathways with different fabric spilling over, vendors eating lunch, people who look like they’re in the fashion industry buying and collecting samples.  Creativity and inspiration is everywhere at this place.

I found my favorite booth (D-247 if I remember correctly) and ended up buying some pinstriped corduroy and a dark navy blue that go really well together.  You’ll see soon enough.

Molly and I were troopers though, we shopped around that building for a while but eventually surrendered to how hot we were getting (still wearing our winter jackets and all) and decided to call it done.  She threw a fondue and wine party at her apartment later that night, which was absolutely spectacular.

Once again I found myself encircled with people whom I love, laughing and having a great time.  Not a bad Valentine’s Day at all.  On a separate and random note, I was being ambitious Saturday morning and wanted to take 20 pictures throughout the day to feature in a blog entry.  I didn’t quite make it to 20, I’ll do that some other time.

I DID want to share this random tid-bit about the sidewalks and all pedestrian walkways in Korea:  they have raised lines which lead blind people all around….sometimes they’re circled or striped or rectangular depending on whether there are steps coming up, etc.  

So…you can feel the pattern under your feet and it will guide you, with instructions!  It’s a pretty cool system that I’d never seen anywhere else so I thought I’d share it.

Here we go, an entry just about what’s been going on in my life lately.  Sorry folks, no insider tips about Korea or its culture this time.

So I had my birthday party in Hongdae with a big group of friends, we all ended up having SOOO much fun.  It had been a while since I’d been out (or at least it felt like it), and everyone was in such a good mood I couldn’t have asked for a better party.  You can see a cool video of the evening if you click here.

It’s a nice feeling to look around you on an evening like your birthday, and be surrounded by people who love you and care about you….even if they are relatively new people in your life (all but one of them I’ve met over the past year).  So I had a warm and fuzzy feeling inside all night.  Unfortuntely it didn’t last the rest of the week.

I’m moving into a new apartment tomorrow.  The place I’m in now is ok, I have no complaints…..except one.  The air conditioner is temperature controlled throughout the entire building, and since it’s an office building….it shuts off after 6pm or so in the summer.  I am left sweltering, trying to crack open my small window and blast the fan on high in hopes that I won’t pass out.  I do not like the heat, and the summers here can get hot….Florida hot.

So, I complained to my boss and she said they would indeed move me into a newer and nicer apartment when I renewed my contract (they were willing to move me right then and there, but I declined and said I’d rather just wait it out).  I’m moving four subway stops closer to Seoul (which isn’t a lot), meaning I’ll now be a 10-15 minute ride to and from work, as opposed to the 1-minute walking distance I’ve enjoyed this past year.

The plus side is that my new apartment is evidently VERY new, has all the modern amenities, it’s bigger, and is located in a much more bustling area.  This is good.  I’m just anxious to see the place and get settled into it already.  (The picture here is of my new building, although it is actually surrounded by many other buildings….this is a promo shot I guess so they photoshopped them out.)  It has been stressful this week trying to deal with my boss and get things ready for the move.  I send an e-mail asking one question, and a day later I get a response totally unrelated to what I had asked.

Somehow I am not worried in the least….I chuck it up as a ‘weird Korean thing’ and just trust that everything will work out ok.  It always seems to.  Packing has been stressful though, and I’m still not even totally finished.  It’s really amazing how much stuff a person can acquire over the period of just a year!  I plan on being here for the long haul though so I wanted to get settled in nicely and have everything I need/want.  Indeed I do.

So, this weekend I’ll be nesting in my nice new place.  Since its my second year with the school, the real estate market isn’t doing well, and the school feels bad about the A/C issue, I’m hoping/thinking that they went in for an even nicer place than normal.  I have high hopes of a Penthouse Suite overlooking the river, but I should probably be aiming a bit lower, haha.

Anyway, all else is well.  I’ve been working out a lot lately and eating super healthy, visibly lost my belly fat and am putting on muscle.  Must keep it up!  Until next time….much love.

Oh, I also posted another video on teaching in Korea because I’ve gotten ridiculous amounts of emails and questions for more information.  If you want to see that video, it’s here.