First Impressions

So this is our third day here in Korea.  Time is already moving fast.  The flight over was great, I filled it with lots of movies and video games, and the 13 hours went by faster than I thought it would.  (If anyone comes to visit, try to fly Singapore Air, it was magical).  I felt like a dork walking out in our matching school polos, but I was so excited, too.  Everything went smoothly through customs, and Joseph picked us up.  

For about an hour and a half I was gripping Chadwick’s hand until we reached our city, Seongnam.  Our driver was great, but everyone was going so fast and cuts in and feels so close (my car anxiety was all over the place.)  I instantly loved the city with colorful lights and lots of people walking around at night.  We drove a bit more to get to our neighborhood, Bokjeong Dong.  Joseph said he was taking us to our “studio” which made me nervous, because I was thinking I guess we’ll just get cozy if people visit.  So the guys drug our luggage to the fourth floor and opened up our apartment.  Although I got hit with hot stale air and a very unique smell...I absolutely loved it...and was thankful it had 2 bedrooms.  David came over to welcome us.  He gave us maps of the area, transit cards, calling cards, a bunch of food, and our social host phone numbers.  We were super tired and pretty much just fell asleep (on a rock hard bed).  

We woke up at 2:30 here and poked around, and then went out to explore our neighborhood.  It has an interesting feel to it, it’s like a tiny pocket of a big city.  There’s the apartment building section, and then in front there is a long street with lots of stores; small markets, a bakery, bars, lots of restaurants, game hubs.  It’s very quaint and not intimidating at all.  I was surprised to see how quiet it is and how many trees there are (and for Portlanders- RECYCLING!)  There is even a little park, but I guess we’re in a suburb, of a suburb of Seoul.  

Hardly anything is written in English, and when it is Chadwick and I are loving the translations.  I know there is a pretty big expat community in South Korea, but so far in our area we haven’t seen any signs of it.  It’s been so strange to have no clue what things say or what people are saying.  It’s sort of fun, like everything is a puzzle and we’re trying to figure out what things are.  When you’re in a crowd it's almost comforting it feels like a lullaby, and it’s like a game to try and figure out what people are saying to each other.  BUT-I’m hoping I can pick some up quickly because I’m embarrassed when I can’t communicate with someone. However, I’m seeing in that gap something beautiful in humanity...kindness.  We’ve been so impressed with how polite and helpful people are.  

Well, this has gotten quite long, so if you're still with me you're either a really close friend or my Mom (Hey, Mom!).  Here are some pictures of our new home, pretty much how we found it.  It’s fun to be in a modern looking apartment (Chadwick is especially loving the lack of “girly frills and antiques” that I usually surround him by.)

The frosted windows open up into the covered patios

I love these trees behind us

This is the back patio, it's super stinky

The washer, no one has dryers here, I guess that's what the patio is for

Ash, don't be jealous of my brick wall (it's paper)

I guess most Koreans don't get curtains and the water just goes all over the bathroom (there is a drain on the floor).  The wet floor drove me crazy, so we bought a shower curtain yesterday.