My Neighborhood; Godeok (고덕)
This is a long one, all the links in this entry (and most links in my other entries) are to pictures I’ve taken of whatever it is that’s highlighted…just something to keep in mind while you read. I woke up this morning to dead silence. I sleep with my window open and normally I can hear the subtle sounds of cars driving by or
people talking, etc. Today is the big holiday you see, so almost everyone is out in the countryside paying homage to their ancestors and performing traditional rituals. I felt a little creeped out this morning to be honest, like the world had come to an end or something.
After I adjusted to the idea that my neighborhood had become a ghost town overnight, with hardly anyone out walking around. I decided to take advantage of the fact by walking around with my camera and taking some pictures. I’ve never written about my ‘hood, Godeok….although it’s a big part of my life here in Korea obviously since it’s where I live and hang out all day, so I thought I’d introduce it here!
I’m kind of far (as in all the way) out on the east side of Seoul in a district called Gangdong-Gu. Evidently this area is where primitive people came to settle some 6,000 years ago by the Han River. They actually have a little park not too far from Godeok where you can check out “the way the ancient people lived”. I haven’t been there yet, but I’ll check it out soon. This was also the district that hosted the 1988 Olympic games, although after the games that section of Seoul was divided into its own adjacent district called Songpa-Gu. So I’m close to Olympic Park I guess is what I’m trying to say, haha.
Well, Godeok is not exactly the most happening area for nightlife and entertainment, but it certainly has it’s perks. There is a lot of greenery here and you get a peaceful feeling walking around this little community. As nice as it would be to live in central Seoul, I’m thankful that I don’t have to fight those crowds everywhere I go. It’s small enough that I run into students and their parents on the streets, people from my gym often spot me in E-mart and will say hello (sometimes shouting it from across the store) and perhaps even come up to chat with me, if their English permits, long enough to ask, “Loren, what are you buying today?” as they search through my shopping basket. I was surprised when this happened the first time, but they’re just curious as to what a foreigner purchases. People stare into my shopping basket all the time, once I was checking out the cream cheese in the dairy section….after I walked away this older Korean man who had been watching me went up and started inspecting the same cream cheese packet I was thinking of buying, haha. Ok I’m getting off point. It’s a community here, and one that I feel a part of now.
Godeok is known for having a lot of private schools (hagwons), so education is a big thing here. You see a lot of students in their school uniforms walking around during the week and even on Saturdays (poor kids!). So there are a decent amount of foreigners here, although they tend to live in the city or commute into the city often like I do.
I spend most of my time within the half a mile radius that surrounds my apartment building. I have everything I could need within a 2-minute walk. The subway station is just a block away, 
my gym is in the building across the street from me, and my school is two blocks away. It’s a luxury living so close to work…on the other hand it makes me lazy. I can be laying in bed at home until 5 minutes before I have to teach! One day I was particularly tired for some reason, and I went in to teach and had pillow crease marks on the side of my face because I had just woken up from a nap. My kids called me on it of course, haha.
There are plenty of restaurants here too, and I can easily get my fill of Western food when I need a quick fix. Godeok proudly features Pizza Hut, Kraze Burger, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and Baskin Robbins. There’s also a TGIFridays at the next subway stop from me, although I haven’t been to that one yet. I normally eat Korean food though because I love it so much! One of my all-time favorite restaurants is Kim Ganae, which translates to something like “Kim’s Family Line”. The picture in that link shows it closed, but that’s because today is Chuseok holiday and almost everything is closed.
Why is Kim Ganae my favorite? Well they just have a wide variety of good Korean food honestly. It’s one of the first places I ate at when I moved here. Ahhh, those were the days, nervously searching the pictures of interesting-looking dishes on the wall, wondering which one I should choose (was probably dol sot bibimbap because that’s the only one I was really familiar with….I’ve since tried almost everything they cook there!). I will write an entry about Kim Ganae sometime, because there’s just too much to say! Dang, now I really wish they were open today, haha.
The closeness of E-mart is by far one of the best things about my location. E-mart is like a Super Target; they have everything you could imagine there from food to bedsheets to computers, etc. It’s a 6-story building with a Mcdonalds and Foodcourt on the 4th floor. McDonalds by the way, serves Big Mac value meals for only $3 between 11am and 2pm! I found this out soon after I moved here, by arguing with the cashier who didn’t speak English, I insisted that she had my order wrong and I kept saying five, five!! The meal should cost 5,000 won, not 3,000. Well apparently I said five enough times, and within a few minutes I was given five Big Mac value meals!! *pounds head on the counter* So anyway, yeah I frequent E-mart, it is only a block away.
There is also a hospital right across the street from the E-mart where they practice Chinese medicine and other alternative medicine. This is where I went for my acupuncture treatments. They are really nice, and actually they practice Western medicine too…the lady said it was half and half. Sidenote, Korean people go to the hospital when they’re sick. Even for minor things like a cold or fever, they will go to the hospital because it’s so cheap! When I was sick at the beginning of this year, my co-workers offered to go to the hospital with me. I was kind of surprised, “I’m not DYING guys, sheesh!” Now I would go if I had a sore throat even.
Being on the edge of Seoul has it’s perks, and being close to nature is one of them. There is a huge park and nature trail that starts next to the hospital and goes back a looong ways. It’s nice to get out and walk through the forest and see random animals and things. I haven’t been all the way down it yet actually. There is evidently some mountain nearby that you can hike up as well and see out over the entire district of Gangdong-Gu, which would be pretty cool.
I feel like I lucked out with my little spot in Seoul. It has everything I need, and although I’m not in the midst of all the action, I’m at a subway stop at least so I can easily connect TO the action when I need to. I’ve done a fair amount of exploring around this area although I can’t help but feel that there’s always room for more exploration. My good friend Ashley is applying to take over Ben’s position at work, and if she gets the job (which I’m sure she will), she will be my co-worker and neighbor here in Godeok by the end of next month! My co-worker and I don’t hang out together all that often, so having Ashley here will be a lot of fun to go venturing around with! Alright, well I must be off….I’ll leave you with a few thumbnails from what I call home.
