(John here) Here we are in Bongcheon 6-dong, Gwanak-gu, Seoul. We're at our new digs in southwestern Seoul. Our apartment, up a hill, on the fourth floor, promises to do wonders for our leg muscles. We're a mere 25 meters from a playground, Rose Park (plastic roses woven into fences around our neighborhood are landmarks to ... something.) It's a busy, twisty network of narrow avenues not far off a big road (Dae-ro) in the vicinity of Korea's most prestigious universities, Seoul National University.
In walking distance are (uncountably many things that we haven't noticed yet) and many "Olive" things. Olive BBQ, Olive PC bang (a place where you can rent high speed computers) and Olive Young, a beauty shop. And at least two yoga studios and a taekwondo studio. It's so dense here it will take at least a couple of weeks to get a handle on it. And we'll probably keep finding new things for the duration of our stay.
We thought for a little bit that our landlords were pissed off at us, because we delayed our move-in for a day. But actually, they are really nice. There were some severely broken things at first, for instance, non-operational doorknob that would leave me trapped in my office if somebody closed the door. We wondered if we were prey to slumlords. But then they came through and installed operational knobs, and gave us a ride to the local inscrutable supermarket, which is in a basement so you would never guess just walking along the street. From this and a lot of other human cues, we can discern that our landlords are awesome cool people and we love them.
Nakseongdae, for those who are interested, means something like "the place where stars fall." Nak means fall, like falling leaves that get scattered all around as they fall. Seong, means star, or planet... heavenly body... Dae means place. I think it's awesome to be living in this place. A big park nearby, a great university just as near, a smallish mountain almost right on top of us, and the great bustling metropolis of Seoul buzzing all around us. I like it.
Glad you guys got everything sorted out and are moved in. We got together for Tim's Bday at Redwood Pizzeria with your fam, and Jamey ranted for a good few minutes to Yarrow about missing you guys and wishing you weren't gone for so long. He does, however, love skyping with you, as do I! I hope you are settling in to your new place, and that things go smoothly from here on out. Can't wait to see pics. Lots of love to you all.
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