Here in Korea, it is pretty rare to see a knife or a fork at the table. When eating rice or soup, they use a spoon. When eating the side dishes or the noodles in a soup, they use chopsticks. On many occasions, food is brought to the table that is too big to fit in your mouth or should be shared. What to do? Instead of everyone having their own knife, every one shares one pair of scissors. It is fun chopping things up at the table with scissors.
One popular kind of Korean dining is the Korean BBQ. The hot coals or fire is in the center of the table and you get long strips of thin meat to cook. Since the meat is too long to eat, you get to slice away at it with the scissors.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Igidae
This morning was chilly and drizzly - perfect for a hike.
Rie and I met Matt, Rie's English teacher, near our house and went for a walk to the nearby park, Igidae Park. We walked along the coast and quickly left the city behind. The trail winds along the rocky shoreline and periodically climbs up to get around cliffs. There are a few Korean Army fox holes along the way and the occasional fisherman down by the water. We even saw one scuba diver getting ready to go for a swim.
After about 90 minutes of enjoyable walking, we came to the end of the land and looked out at the Oryuk-do islands. The Oryuk-do islands are a group of 5 (at high tide) or 6 (at low tide) islands. A bunch of brand-new 50+ story apartment buildings were just built out at the end of the peninsula. Luckily for us, this meant that bus service was out there also. We took a bus back to the university neighborhood and Matt showed us around the restaurant district. We found a bunch of nice places that we want to try sometime.
Since we were all cold and wet, Matt took us to a place for spicy chicken noodle stew. Naturally, it was tasty.
Now we are back home, sitting on our heated floor and warming up. Rie is so warm that she is napping. :)
Rie and I met Matt, Rie's English teacher, near our house and went for a walk to the nearby park, Igidae Park. We walked along the coast and quickly left the city behind. The trail winds along the rocky shoreline and periodically climbs up to get around cliffs. There are a few Korean Army fox holes along the way and the occasional fisherman down by the water. We even saw one scuba diver getting ready to go for a swim.
After about 90 minutes of enjoyable walking, we came to the end of the land and looked out at the Oryuk-do islands. The Oryuk-do islands are a group of 5 (at high tide) or 6 (at low tide) islands. A bunch of brand-new 50+ story apartment buildings were just built out at the end of the peninsula. Luckily for us, this meant that bus service was out there also. We took a bus back to the university neighborhood and Matt showed us around the restaurant district. We found a bunch of nice places that we want to try sometime.
Since we were all cold and wet, Matt took us to a place for spicy chicken noodle stew. Naturally, it was tasty.
Now we are back home, sitting on our heated floor and warming up. Rie is so warm that she is napping. :)
Happy Birthday Rie
Yesterday was Rie's birthday. Since we were in the jjimbilbang and the lights had just gone off, I was able to wish her a Happy Birthday right at mid-night.
After our afternoon Korean lesson, we hopped on a bus and went out to the Kigeong market. It took close to an hour to get out there. It is several beach towns up the road from Pusan. Kijeong is locally famous for its crab restaurants. We walked down the alley where all of the crab houses are concentrated. Each restaurant has a bunch of tanks in front and the tanks are filled with crabs. We found a place we liked and then picked out two good looking crabs. The man helping us threw in a third one for free and put them all in a metal container. He put the container in line for the steamer and we went in and sat down.
The meal started off with a great assortment of appetizers. We ate a kind of pancake filled with scallions, quail eggs, peanuts, kimchi, and seaweed soup among others. When our crabs were done with their sauna, they were brought to the front table where two women with scissors quickly cut them up and arranged them onto a serving dish. Rie and I spent a good half-hour pulling all of their meat out and eating it.
The crab brains came to the table on top of the crab's shell. Rie sent them back with a request for how they should be prepared. A few minutes later, the shell returned from the kitchen, but this time it was filled with crab brain fried rice and topped with some fish eggs.
After some ice cream at Baskin Robbins, we called it a day.
After our afternoon Korean lesson, we hopped on a bus and went out to the Kigeong market. It took close to an hour to get out there. It is several beach towns up the road from Pusan. Kijeong is locally famous for its crab restaurants. We walked down the alley where all of the crab houses are concentrated. Each restaurant has a bunch of tanks in front and the tanks are filled with crabs. We found a place we liked and then picked out two good looking crabs. The man helping us threw in a third one for free and put them all in a metal container. He put the container in line for the steamer and we went in and sat down.
The meal started off with a great assortment of appetizers. We ate a kind of pancake filled with scallions, quail eggs, peanuts, kimchi, and seaweed soup among others. When our crabs were done with their sauna, they were brought to the front table where two women with scissors quickly cut them up and arranged them onto a serving dish. Rie and I spent a good half-hour pulling all of their meat out and eating it.
The crab brains came to the table on top of the crab's shell. Rie sent them back with a request for how they should be prepared. A few minutes later, the shell returned from the kitchen, but this time it was filled with crab brain fried rice and topped with some fish eggs.
After some ice cream at Baskin Robbins, we called it a day.
I got shot
I have always enjoyed eating street food when I travel the world. My mother has been after me for years to get a Hepatitis B vaccine, but somehow I never got around to it. A doctor told us that 10% of Koreans have Hepatitis B and that we should be careful. Since medical care is so cheap here, I figured that this is the perfect place to get some shots. Each visit only costs about $15.
I took off Thursday morning from work and went to the Dong-Eui Medical Center. The nurse from the international section took me around and made sure I did the right thing at the right place in the hospital. So, now I have had my first of three shots.
Rie got her shot last weekend and we will both go back for the second shot next month.
Korea is a very communal place when it comes to sharing food. Often, the main course is served on a big plate and every body just eats from there. Usually, when I order the same soup as the person next to me, it comes in one bowl for us to share.
I took off Thursday morning from work and went to the Dong-Eui Medical Center. The nurse from the international section took me around and made sure I did the right thing at the right place in the hospital. So, now I have had my first of three shots.
Rie got her shot last weekend and we will both go back for the second shot next month.
Korea is a very communal place when it comes to sharing food. Often, the main course is served on a big plate and every body just eats from there. Usually, when I order the same soup as the person next to me, it comes in one bowl for us to share.
Español
Rie studies English at the local university twice a week. The class is made up entirely of Korean housewives whose husbands all earn enough money for them to spend their days having fun. They frequently go out to lunch together after class and Rie has made some good friends there. One of her classmates went to Europe and enjoyed it very much, especially Spain. She is interested in learning Spanish, and somehow, Rie volunteered me to teach her.
In Hak came over for her first Spanish lesson on Thursday. Rie also took my Spanish class. Rie started to study Spanish a little bit last winter when we lived in Kansas. Now, more than ever, I would like for Rie to become fluent. In the U.S., when we want to talk about someone in public, we use Japanese. In Japan, we use English. But, here in Korea, there are so many people who speak English or Japanese, that we have to be careful. For this reason, Spanish would be useful for her.
When we first came to Korea, I was reluctant to speak Japanese in public. Japan colonized Korea in the first half of the last century and were not the nicest overlords. I was afraid that there would be some resentment if I tried to speak Japanese. It turns out, that despite their several millennium of antagonism and continuing differences at the international level, the Japanese and Koreans have a connection and interest in each other at the personal level. Many Koreans have studied Japanese and worked in Japan. So often, if we can't make our selves understood in English, we find success in Japanese.
Anyway, the first Spanish class went well and I am looking forward to the next one.
In Hak came over for her first Spanish lesson on Thursday. Rie also took my Spanish class. Rie started to study Spanish a little bit last winter when we lived in Kansas. Now, more than ever, I would like for Rie to become fluent. In the U.S., when we want to talk about someone in public, we use Japanese. In Japan, we use English. But, here in Korea, there are so many people who speak English or Japanese, that we have to be careful. For this reason, Spanish would be useful for her.
When we first came to Korea, I was reluctant to speak Japanese in public. Japan colonized Korea in the first half of the last century and were not the nicest overlords. I was afraid that there would be some resentment if I tried to speak Japanese. It turns out, that despite their several millennium of antagonism and continuing differences at the international level, the Japanese and Koreans have a connection and interest in each other at the personal level. Many Koreans have studied Japanese and worked in Japan. So often, if we can't make our selves understood in English, we find success in Japanese.
Anyway, the first Spanish class went well and I am looking forward to the next one.
More Korean Language study
Friday evening Korean class was postponed because of our jjimjilbang excursion. We got home around noon, took a nap, and went to class at 3pm on Saturday afternoon instead.
Our instructor had given us a famous old Korean song to study and we read that for him. Yesterday's class reinforced my growing suspicion that the Korean Language is not as easy as I thought. I was excited to learn that Korean only has 24 letters. But, now I realize that they have another 15 or so two-letter combinations that make their own sounds. That by itself would not be too bad, but they also don't always pronounce letters the way they sound when you say the alphabet. We spent much of our last two classes learning about how different letters change their sounds, depending on what other letters are nearby.
The end result after one week of Korean lessons is this: Before we started the classes, I thought I could read. Now, I see I have a long way to go. On the positive side, since the class is taught in Japanese, my Japanese is improving.
Rie of course, is progressing quickly. She is discovering more and more words that are similar to Japanese words. Lucky her.
Our instructor had given us a famous old Korean song to study and we read that for him. Yesterday's class reinforced my growing suspicion that the Korean Language is not as easy as I thought. I was excited to learn that Korean only has 24 letters. But, now I realize that they have another 15 or so two-letter combinations that make their own sounds. That by itself would not be too bad, but they also don't always pronounce letters the way they sound when you say the alphabet. We spent much of our last two classes learning about how different letters change their sounds, depending on what other letters are nearby.
The end result after one week of Korean lessons is this: Before we started the classes, I thought I could read. Now, I see I have a long way to go. On the positive side, since the class is taught in Japanese, my Japanese is improving.
Rie of course, is progressing quickly. She is discovering more and more words that are similar to Japanese words. Lucky her.
Jjim Jil Bang
We had a great Friday night / Saturday morning. On Friday night, we met two Japanese women and one Australian man for dinner. We went to the Jagalchi Market. The Jagalchi Market is a multi-story building on the water front - facing Yeong-Do Island. On the ground floor are many people selling live fish. We went upstairs to a small restaurant run by Rie's friend's friend. We ate lots of great seafood for not very much money.
After dinner and a stroll around the Nampo-Dong shopping district, we went to a Jjimjilbang. Ever since I first read about this sort of place, I have been eager to check one out. A Jjimjilbang is the Korean version of a hot sauna place, with an extra special room up top.
We all paid our entrance fees and then split up. The women went to the fourth floor and David and I headed up to the third floor. The sauna floor was typical of what I have seen elsewhere in Korea - lots of places to stand or sit and wash yourself. After a good scrub, there were about 6 or 7 different temperature and style baths to soak in. The warmest baths at this place had salt water. The baths in front of the big window overlooking the harbor and island had very powerful jets coming up from the floor and I could not find a comfortable position in them. The room also had four hot saunas of varying temperatures and one ice sauna.
After washing and soaking, we headed up to see what makes this style of sauna special. We put on the pajama-like shorts and shirt that we were issued at the entrance and went up to the fifth floor. Rie and her friends were already waiting for us upstairs. A jjimjilbang is a sauna with a napping room. The sleeping floor was a big open room that overlooked the harbor. People who don't want to spring for a hotel room go there for a cheap place to sleep.
The floor of the main room is hard tile, but is heated from below with the ondol system of piped hot water that is common in Korea. They had a pile of over-sized bath mats that you can use to claim your spot on the floor and also use as a blanket if you get cold. We set up camp in the middle of the room. Somehow, even though we had had a big dinner and a small dessert, we were ready for some more food. We went to the snack bar and bought a big bowl of shaved ice that was covered with sweet beans, chewy rice cakes, and some canned fruit. Instead of paying there, we they just held our key chain up to a sensor and got charged at the front on the way out the next day.
On the sleeping floor, there were also about 7 different saunas. One had reed mats and was only about 100 degrees F. One of the hotter ones had a white-sand floor and another had a black-pebble floor. They also had a computer room where people played games or cruised the Internet.
The main room had a few TVs and lots of people talking and eating, so it was not the best for sleeping. Off to the side they had about ten little caves. They were about 4 feet high and three feet wide and had room for one or two people to crawl in and lay down. They stayed full all night, so I never got to go in one.
At mid-night, they shut off the TVs and most of the lights and all 100 or so of us went to sleep on the hard floor. Between the previous hot baths I took, the heavy cotton pajamas I wore, and the heated floor, I got pretty warm. At around 3 a.m., I woke up and went into the ice sauna for a little while. They keep the temperature right around 0 degrees F in there.
I did not have the best night sleep, but it was an interesting experience. It has been my experience in other large-group sleeping situations that people just grumble at the loud snorers, but don't do anything. That is not the case in Korea. Any time one of the drunk men started to make too much noise, someone nearby would shout at them and tell them to stop. One of the cleaning women even went and woke up some snorers just before the morning.
I watched the sun rise over Yeong-Do Island and then played on the Internet until everyone else woke up. We ate breakfast in the attached restaurant when it opened at 9:30 and left the jjimjilbang at around 11 a.m.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
On the roads
I was a bit nervous before my first ride to work last week, but now I am getting pretty comfortable with it. The ride takes about 15 minutes, plus 1 to 5 minutes for traffic lights. There are a few small hills, so even if the temperature is in the 40s, I get pretty warm.
When we first got to Korea, the plethora of 50+ story buildings with helicopter landing pads on the roof and crazy traffic patterns all seemed overwhelming, but now it is old hat. After a few weeks of observation, I feel pretty comfortable on the road. I now know when to stop at a red light and when to ignore it.
I got my Korean driver's license from the Army base last week and drove a car for the first time on Wednesday. My boss and I had a two hour drive after a meeting and I took my turn at the wheel. I warned her that I don't drive as fast as she does, but I do tend to get places safely. I figured out that if I drive slowly after a traffic light, everybody else zooms ahead and then the road is empty just for me. My boss laughed when I shared this observation.
My daily commute takes me along an industrial area, so I wear a mask to keep some of the fumes out of my lungs. In the morning, most of the trucks are sitting on the side of the road waiting for the ports to open and I can race by them to work. In the evening, most of the trucks are sitting in the road - stuck in traffic - so I can race by them and go home. Either way, the traffic that cars get stuck in tends to disappear when you ride a bike.
When we first got to Korea, the plethora of 50+ story buildings with helicopter landing pads on the roof and crazy traffic patterns all seemed overwhelming, but now it is old hat. After a few weeks of observation, I feel pretty comfortable on the road. I now know when to stop at a red light and when to ignore it.
I got my Korean driver's license from the Army base last week and drove a car for the first time on Wednesday. My boss and I had a two hour drive after a meeting and I took my turn at the wheel. I warned her that I don't drive as fast as she does, but I do tend to get places safely. I figured out that if I drive slowly after a traffic light, everybody else zooms ahead and then the road is empty just for me. My boss laughed when I shared this observation.
My daily commute takes me along an industrial area, so I wear a mask to keep some of the fumes out of my lungs. In the morning, most of the trucks are sitting on the side of the road waiting for the ports to open and I can race by them to work. In the evening, most of the trucks are sitting in the road - stuck in traffic - so I can race by them and go home. Either way, the traffic that cars get stuck in tends to disappear when you ride a bike.
Dog is Gae
I speak English at work and so many Koreans can communicate well enough in English that I have had a hard time picking up the language. We wanted to take night classes at the local university where Rie takes her English class, but they are on a two month break. Rie checked out a bunch of places and found a school for us. It is just outside the university - a 15 minute walk from our apartment.
We take classes three nights a week, for one our at a time. We had our first class on Monday and practiced making all of the Korean sounds. Some of the vowels are tricky. Our teacher speaks Chinese and a little bit of English. Unfortunately for me, he speaks great Japanese and that is the language he teaches us in. So, I am learning Korean from a Japanese speaker. As you can imagine, that is a bit of a challenge for me. I am not always quick to answer questions because of all the translations involved, but Rie is always next to me to help me out.
Rie started learning to read Korean last weekend. It is not too difficult to learn and she is almost as good as me now. I think she will get good very quickly because of all the overlap in vocabulary and grammar between Korean and Japanese.
The one word I remember from class is Dog. Dog is Gae.
We take classes three nights a week, for one our at a time. We had our first class on Monday and practiced making all of the Korean sounds. Some of the vowels are tricky. Our teacher speaks Chinese and a little bit of English. Unfortunately for me, he speaks great Japanese and that is the language he teaches us in. So, I am learning Korean from a Japanese speaker. As you can imagine, that is a bit of a challenge for me. I am not always quick to answer questions because of all the translations involved, but Rie is always next to me to help me out.
Rie started learning to read Korean last weekend. It is not too difficult to learn and she is almost as good as me now. I think she will get good very quickly because of all the overlap in vocabulary and grammar between Korean and Japanese.
The one word I remember from class is Dog. Dog is Gae.
Monday, December 8, 2008
My first Korean bicycle commute
I rode my bike today for the first time. It was not as bad as I feared. The truck fumes were a bit much, but the traffic did not feel too dangerous. Of course, I took all of the precautions I could. I added a rear-view mirror to my helmet, a highly-reflective vest to my body, a second flashing white light in front and a second flashing red light in back. I also added the world's loudest bicycle horn. It is 115 decibels. That is very loud. I did not get to use it today, but I am looking forward to the day that I can make a truck driver jump out of his skin.
When riding in traffic, I subscribe to the theory that car drivers usually watch the road. They don't watch the sidewalk. They don't watch the edge of the road. They watch where they are going, for the most part. For this reason, I try to be highly visible and right in front of them. I take up most of the lane and make them pass me slowly. Also, if one car is stuck behind me, then no other cars are going to be zooming past me.
The ride to work took under 20 minutes. It was a nice way to start the day.
When I get to work, I have to show my ID to the security guard at the front gate. Today, he told me that my vehicle is not registered with the base. I had to ride to the other base in Pusan and register my bicycle. It was only 15 minutes away. Now my bike has a big red registration sticker on it.
I'm a stranger here myself
In Japan, when I wanted some American food at the grocery store, I had to go to the special foreign food section.
In America, when Rie wanted some Japanese food at the grocery store, she had to go to the special foreign food section.
In Korea, when we want some American or some Japanese food at the grocery store, we have to go to the same special foreign food section.
It is nice to both be foreign together.
In America, when Rie wanted some Japanese food at the grocery store, she had to go to the special foreign food section.
In Korea, when we want some American or some Japanese food at the grocery store, we have to go to the same special foreign food section.
It is nice to both be foreign together.
I'm a winner with the Won!
The Korean currency is called the Won. Last year it took about 1000 Won to buy a U.S. Dollar. The Won had a bit of a crash last month and now the exchange rate is nearly 1500 Won to the U.S. Dollar. This 30% drop is not so good for Koreans who want to buy items from overseas. But, for those of us earning Dollars and spending Won, it is wonderful. Korea was already a fairly cheap country before. Now it is great.
The biggest bill they have here is 10,000 Won. That is about $7. I don't have any local debit cards yet, so we are paying for everything in cash. A few hundred Dollars comes out to many hundreds of thousands of Won. In Dollars, you can carry $200 in two bills. The equivalent amount of money in Korea takes about 30 bills. My wallet is straining.
A typical meal in the places we like to eat costs us about 10,000 Won for both of us. The nice foreign restaurants we have tried were in the 30,000-50,000 Won range. A ride on the subway costs under 1000 Won and a twenty minute taxi ride is usually under 10,000 Won. Actually, taxis are pretty cheap. They start at around 2000 Won and the numbers don't start going up for a mile or so. Even once they start changing quickly, it is only in increments of 100 - less than a dime.
The biggest bill they have here is 10,000 Won. That is about $7. I don't have any local debit cards yet, so we are paying for everything in cash. A few hundred Dollars comes out to many hundreds of thousands of Won. In Dollars, you can carry $200 in two bills. The equivalent amount of money in Korea takes about 30 bills. My wallet is straining.
A typical meal in the places we like to eat costs us about 10,000 Won for both of us. The nice foreign restaurants we have tried were in the 30,000-50,000 Won range. A ride on the subway costs under 1000 Won and a twenty minute taxi ride is usually under 10,000 Won. Actually, taxis are pretty cheap. They start at around 2000 Won and the numbers don't start going up for a mile or so. Even once they start changing quickly, it is only in increments of 100 - less than a dime.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
A man's home is his castle
Rie and I are still getting settled in. We don't have our washing machine hooked up yet and we are still using the kimchi fridge instead of the huge American refrigerator. We have lots of half-unpacked things in two of the bedrooms and the queen sized bed in the third.
The nicest room in the apartment is the living room. The fake-wood floor looks nice and so does all of the wooden furniture and fixtures. The ondol makes the room nice and comfortable as well.
We don't sleep well on a regular bed and prefer the thin futon on the floor. So, we have pretty much shut off the three bedrooms and laid out our futon on the living room. We live in the living room and kitchen. The bedrooms are just used for storage at this point.
Our living situation reminds me of those old noble families in England. Over the centuries, as their fortunes dwindled, they shut off various wings of their family estates and lived in smaller and smaller portions of their castles.
The nicest room in the apartment is the living room. The fake-wood floor looks nice and so does all of the wooden furniture and fixtures. The ondol makes the room nice and comfortable as well.
We don't sleep well on a regular bed and prefer the thin futon on the floor. So, we have pretty much shut off the three bedrooms and laid out our futon on the living room. We live in the living room and kitchen. The bedrooms are just used for storage at this point.
Our living situation reminds me of those old noble families in England. Over the centuries, as their fortunes dwindled, they shut off various wings of their family estates and lived in smaller and smaller portions of their castles.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
We make a good team
Rie and I have had some difficulty finding Korean language lessons that fit our schedule. Most classes are offered during the day. We found a night class at the nearby university where Rie studies English, but because of the approaching holidays, they did not have enough students to offer their December-January class.
In the meantime, we are both picking up bits of Korean here and there. I concentrated on learning to read and write. Five hundred years ago, the King of Korea decided that it did not make sense to use Chinese characters to write the Korean language. He had his advisers come up with a new written system that was better suited to the Korean language. The result was 14 consonants and 10 vowels that are very easy to learn.
At this point, I can sound out most words, even if I don't understand the meaning. If the word comes from English, I am in luck. Otherwise, I am just making sounds.
A lot of Korean words derive from Chinese words. A lot of Japanese words also derive from Chinese. So, when I sound out words, Rie is frequently able to understand what I am saying.
With me reading and Rie understanding, we are managing quite well.
In the meantime, we are both picking up bits of Korean here and there. I concentrated on learning to read and write. Five hundred years ago, the King of Korea decided that it did not make sense to use Chinese characters to write the Korean language. He had his advisers come up with a new written system that was better suited to the Korean language. The result was 14 consonants and 10 vowels that are very easy to learn.
At this point, I can sound out most words, even if I don't understand the meaning. If the word comes from English, I am in luck. Otherwise, I am just making sounds.
A lot of Korean words derive from Chinese words. A lot of Japanese words also derive from Chinese. So, when I sound out words, Rie is frequently able to understand what I am saying.
With me reading and Rie understanding, we are managing quite well.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Our new place
We moved into our lovely 11th floor apartment in LG Metro City today. Our place has three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a good sized kitchen and a big living room. and four interior porches/utility rooms. A whole bunch of furniture was delivered from my work, so the place is already a bit full even without our own things. We also got the Internet hooked up today, but we don't have an adapter for our computer yet, so no pictures for a few more days.
LG Metro City is a relatively new neighborhood stuck between the big fancy Gwangalli Bridge and Igidae Park. There are about 30 buildings and each has 25 stories. Our view and sun-exposure are nothing great, but we should be happy.
Korean homes do not use central heat or fireplaces. They use ondol and ondol are great. They have pipes under all the floors and pump hot water throughout. The house heats from the floor up. There are also valves under the kitchen sink so we can turn the ondol on and off separately for each room. Pretty neat.
Koreans eat kimchi with every meal. Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage dish. They like it so much that apartments come with a dedicated kimchi refrigerator. Since our regular fridge is not hooked up yet, we are storing our orange juice in the kimchi fridge. I hope the OJ does not smell as bad as the fridge tomorrow.
The stove that came with the apartment does not have an oven, so we got a second range/oven unit. The gas company will come to hook that up soon. We can cook on 8 burners at once, if we were so inclined.
There is a super market about 100 yards away and a Mega Mart about one mile away. We are also close to a Baskin Robbins, a Dunkin Donuts, an Outback Steakhouse, and a McDonald's. Luckily for us, there are also hundreds of little Korean shops and restaurants in the area.
A very nice old man works in the guard shack in front of our building. He can communicate well enough in English and can watch us on the remote camera when we are in the elevator.
All in all, I think we will be happy here for a year.
LG Metro City is a relatively new neighborhood stuck between the big fancy Gwangalli Bridge and Igidae Park. There are about 30 buildings and each has 25 stories. Our view and sun-exposure are nothing great, but we should be happy.
Korean homes do not use central heat or fireplaces. They use ondol and ondol are great. They have pipes under all the floors and pump hot water throughout. The house heats from the floor up. There are also valves under the kitchen sink so we can turn the ondol on and off separately for each room. Pretty neat.
Koreans eat kimchi with every meal. Kimchi is a spicy fermented cabbage dish. They like it so much that apartments come with a dedicated kimchi refrigerator. Since our regular fridge is not hooked up yet, we are storing our orange juice in the kimchi fridge. I hope the OJ does not smell as bad as the fridge tomorrow.
The stove that came with the apartment does not have an oven, so we got a second range/oven unit. The gas company will come to hook that up soon. We can cook on 8 burners at once, if we were so inclined.
There is a super market about 100 yards away and a Mega Mart about one mile away. We are also close to a Baskin Robbins, a Dunkin Donuts, an Outback Steakhouse, and a McDonald's. Luckily for us, there are also hundreds of little Korean shops and restaurants in the area.
A very nice old man works in the guard shack in front of our building. He can communicate well enough in English and can watch us on the remote camera when we are in the elevator.
All in all, I think we will be happy here for a year.
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