well its about time you posted something again....
Greetings from Seoul
Well, much to my surprise, just yesterday was my one-month anniversary of working in Seoul. And even though I'm not one to reminisce, time’s flown by. I’ve so far moved only once, and will only move once more (hopefully) before I stay there at a much larger apartment, where I’ll most likely stay until i finish out my contract. I'm now an official resident immigrant, and even though it cost me a fortune to obtain, I also have a multiple-entry visa, so I’ll be able to enter and leave the country for multiple times; I’ve got two nine-day holidays scheduled twice while I'm here, and I'm hoping to spend some time in China for my first nine days, and possibly volunteer or vacation in Thailand? for my second nine days right near the end of December. Its been an interesting first month, and now that the school has some new teachers coming in, its been weird looking at them as they do the same observing and training that I did very shortly ago; it seems like eons ago, yet, I’ve only been teaching for just shy of three weeks.
So far, the weather’s been amazing. the mornings are a nice cool breeze, and the afternoons are just a beautiful spring feeling. there are days where the weather dramatically changes, usually to a much colder temperature, (to which all of us teachers cry “wheres the nice weather - this “cold” weathers for the birds - i know, I'm spoiled now....) but then, there are days like last Sunday, where the weather was so beautiful, it seemed like every single Korean was either walking, biking, or playing soccer and tennis outdoors. So far, i haven’t taken too many photographs; the days are still pretty short, and when I'm done work at 8:20, there's not a whole lot of ambition left to just go out and try to take some nice evening photographs.... One of my first purchases once i get paid will be to buy a bike; nothing fancy, but bikes here are surprisingly cheap. The nicest aspect of Seoul is by far their bike paths; if London, Ontario is known for their biking paths, then just increase the scale to a city of 10 million, and you have Seoul. Cutting through all sorts of busy apartment mini-cities are dozens of bike paths; and if you can find a river or stream flowing anywhere, then bike path are sure to be lining everywhere. Two coworkers of mine just spent last Sunday biking for four hours, and they were able to travel all the way outside of the entire city in a faster manner than if you were to take the subway.
Well, true to my word, I'm going to give another glimpse into life in Seoul. this particular segment might not seem as shocking as the difference in public transportation, but i hope that it will at least offer a certain retrospect of appreciation for what we have, and how blessed we are with so much space.
Over here in Seoul, I'm presently living in a two-bedroom apartment, with a single bath, small kitchenette, and a covered patio with an enclosed washing machine/agitator. Where I'm now living is the third-highest rent in all of Seoul. to me, I wouldn’t pay more than 650 a month for an apartment of this size (Cad). I’m sharing with one other girl, and both of the rooms are nothing to scream about. the first room is quite small, 8’ by 10’; its small and cozy, but nothing huge. the larger room is where my roommate stays (seniority based on how long you’ve been teaching here) is roughly 12’ by 17’ - its nice, but quite oddly shaped, so there’s a lot open space, especially because of where the double wide door is located. So i share with one other person, and i find it small. believe it or not, the average five person family shares a space this small - bunk-beds are a necessity here, and usually four kids will share the bigger room [and if they’re “lucky”, their grandparent(s)] while the parents will live in the small room. with a queen size or double bed, the door would just clear the bed, with a little walkway. with the rent in this area being so costly, most of the apartments are rented out to lawyers, doctors, policemen working at the local police station, etc.
if you saw what these apartments looked like, you’d be startled when you read this - they’re nothing to scream about. this city is so starved for apartments to house all of their ever-expanding population, that entire city blocks of older-style split level apartments are being leveled in order to replace them with fifteen story apartment complexes that have already sold out- and they’re years away from completion. its somewhat discouraging, but most are so used to it, that they just can’t honestly comprehend when you try to explain something so common as a backyard - 100% of my kids live in apartments, and they most likely will their entire life. not to say theirs nothing wrong with apartments, but the true North American ideal of owning your own plot of land, with a backyard, driveway in simpleton Canada or America is something that only seems fitting in movies to most Koreans. the good thing is that they like it this way - they see bigger houses as being bigger residences to upkeep, and truth be told, when you’ve got a space so small, it truly forces the whole family to go outside more often - you could get serious boredom with such a small space.
well, it sounds unfortunate, but there are many other living options for Koreans, and many decide to live in Seoul because of the huge profits that are to be made in the big city; and who can blame them when their economy is finally turning back around; people throw money around here as if the stuff grows on trees......
well, I need to get going - these kids drain the energy out of you as if you're a rechargeable battery- they somehow need to understand that its just not possible. if any of the people reading this by any chance work with kids, God’s blessings on you; you’re a special person. i teach, but even the kids i have for one hour a day, four days a week at six years old drive me nuts; and they speak English just fine, so its not the language part.... if you have time, I’d love to hear how things are going in each of your lives; i can be reached via e-mail at (notanymore). I may not reply immediately, but most of the time i do.
take care, and God Bless!!!
Well, much to my surprise, just yesterday was my one-month anniversary of working in Seoul. And even though I'm not one to reminisce, time’s flown by. I’ve so far moved only once, and will only move once more (hopefully) before I stay there at a much larger apartment, where I’ll most likely stay until i finish out my contract. I'm now an official resident immigrant, and even though it cost me a fortune to obtain, I also have a multiple-entry visa, so I’ll be able to enter and leave the country for multiple times; I’ve got two nine-day holidays scheduled twice while I'm here, and I'm hoping to spend some time in China for my first nine days, and possibly volunteer or vacation in Thailand? for my second nine days right near the end of December. Its been an interesting first month, and now that the school has some new teachers coming in, its been weird looking at them as they do the same observing and training that I did very shortly ago; it seems like eons ago, yet, I’ve only been teaching for just shy of three weeks.
So far, the weather’s been amazing. the mornings are a nice cool breeze, and the afternoons are just a beautiful spring feeling. there are days where the weather dramatically changes, usually to a much colder temperature, (to which all of us teachers cry “wheres the nice weather - this “cold” weathers for the birds - i know, I'm spoiled now....) but then, there are days like last Sunday, where the weather was so beautiful, it seemed like every single Korean was either walking, biking, or playing soccer and tennis outdoors. So far, i haven’t taken too many photographs; the days are still pretty short, and when I'm done work at 8:20, there's not a whole lot of ambition left to just go out and try to take some nice evening photographs.... One of my first purchases once i get paid will be to buy a bike; nothing fancy, but bikes here are surprisingly cheap. The nicest aspect of Seoul is by far their bike paths; if London, Ontario is known for their biking paths, then just increase the scale to a city of 10 million, and you have Seoul. Cutting through all sorts of busy apartment mini-cities are dozens of bike paths; and if you can find a river or stream flowing anywhere, then bike path are sure to be lining everywhere. Two coworkers of mine just spent last Sunday biking for four hours, and they were able to travel all the way outside of the entire city in a faster manner than if you were to take the subway.
Well, true to my word, I'm going to give another glimpse into life in Seoul. this particular segment might not seem as shocking as the difference in public transportation, but i hope that it will at least offer a certain retrospect of appreciation for what we have, and how blessed we are with so much space.
Over here in Seoul, I'm presently living in a two-bedroom apartment, with a single bath, small kitchenette, and a covered patio with an enclosed washing machine/agitator. Where I'm now living is the third-highest rent in all of Seoul. to me, I wouldn’t pay more than 650 a month for an apartment of this size (Cad). I’m sharing with one other girl, and both of the rooms are nothing to scream about. the first room is quite small, 8’ by 10’; its small and cozy, but nothing huge. the larger room is where my roommate stays (seniority based on how long you’ve been teaching here) is roughly 12’ by 17’ - its nice, but quite oddly shaped, so there’s a lot open space, especially because of where the double wide door is located. So i share with one other person, and i find it small. believe it or not, the average five person family shares a space this small - bunk-beds are a necessity here, and usually four kids will share the bigger room [and if they’re “lucky”, their grandparent(s)] while the parents will live in the small room. with a queen size or double bed, the door would just clear the bed, with a little walkway. with the rent in this area being so costly, most of the apartments are rented out to lawyers, doctors, policemen working at the local police station, etc.
if you saw what these apartments looked like, you’d be startled when you read this - they’re nothing to scream about. this city is so starved for apartments to house all of their ever-expanding population, that entire city blocks of older-style split level apartments are being leveled in order to replace them with fifteen story apartment complexes that have already sold out- and they’re years away from completion. its somewhat discouraging, but most are so used to it, that they just can’t honestly comprehend when you try to explain something so common as a backyard - 100% of my kids live in apartments, and they most likely will their entire life. not to say theirs nothing wrong with apartments, but the true North American ideal of owning your own plot of land, with a backyard, driveway in simpleton Canada or America is something that only seems fitting in movies to most Koreans. the good thing is that they like it this way - they see bigger houses as being bigger residences to upkeep, and truth be told, when you’ve got a space so small, it truly forces the whole family to go outside more often - you could get serious boredom with such a small space.
well, it sounds unfortunate, but there are many other living options for Koreans, and many decide to live in Seoul because of the huge profits that are to be made in the big city; and who can blame them when their economy is finally turning back around; people throw money around here as if the stuff grows on trees......
well, I need to get going - these kids drain the energy out of you as if you're a rechargeable battery- they somehow need to understand that its just not possible. if any of the people reading this by any chance work with kids, God’s blessings on you; you’re a special person. i teach, but even the kids i have for one hour a day, four days a week at six years old drive me nuts; and they speak English just fine, so its not the language part.... if you have time, I’d love to hear how things are going in each of your lives; i can be reached via e-mail at (notanymore). I may not reply immediately, but most of the time i do.
take care, and God Bless!!!