The Next Chapter

Operation: Move Annie began promptly at 8:04am last Saturday morning.  I had been packing up until the very last minute when two young, skinny Korean men showed up at my studio apartment in northern Seoul.  They quickly loaded everything I pointed to and told them was mine--10 suitcases (6 borrowed from friends), 6 closed boxes, two open boxes full of houseplants, a couch, some chairs, and some other odds and ends, which the men efficiently loaded into large crates to carry downstairs to their pickup-style truck.

I know I've said this before about a million times, but you never know how much stuff you've got until you're forced to pack it all up and pile it on a truck.  And let me just point out that I arrived in Korea with two suitcases and a heavy winter coat.  And I've only been here 8 months.  Embarrassing?  A bit.  But I had never planned on moving all my kitchen stuff, furniture, school supplies...none of that!  But, boy, am I ever so glad I did...

After the truck was loaded and strapped down, Kim (who was helping me all day) and I hailed a cab, and the truck driver, who fantasticly knew a bit of English, explained to the driver where to take us.

About 45 minutes later, we landed in hilly Kyungnidan, my new neighborhood.  The men quickly unloaded every item in the truck, carrying it down my narrow alley's stairs and into my new apartment on their backs.  Fortunately, they knew how to open the gate up fully so they didn't have to carry everything through the tiny hobbit door!  I had been worried about that, because to enter the tiny courtyard of my apartment building, you must bend over at practically a 90 degree angle to make it through the hobbit-sized gate.  It is seriously short!  I mean, if I didn't duck, I wouldn't even hit my head--I'd hit my chest!  Then I'd probably bounce back a few steps before realizing what had happened.

They had me all moved in by 10:30am.  It cost under $150 and I didn't have to lift a finger.

I love my new apartment.  It is majorly cute, especially now that I'm living in it!  I mean, it has actual rooms to it.  Keep in mind that I'm coming from what was basically a nice, souped-up dorm room.  This apartment is a lot older, though--but it's a fair trade-off for the area in which it is located.  For example--I've gone back to the extremely prehistoric use of having a key for my house!  However, that's not meant to be a complaint, but rather entirely hilarious.  My solution for having to suddenly keep track of a key?  Spend a little too much money on a blingin' Hello Kitty keychain that I will never want to lose.

I no longer feel like I'm at some weird Korean summer camp or something.  I feel like I'm in a real house in a really cool neighborhood.  Right down the street from me are both the Korean and the US military bases.  And right over the hill is Itaewon--the international district.  That means that every color of human being that exists on our beautiful green Earth lives over here.  I'm surrounded by Europeans, Africans, Middle Easterners, Indians, Americans...you name it!  It's quite different from the Korean-only neighborhood I'm used to living in.

I'm in the part of town where, for example, if you have black hair, you come over here to get it done.  If you want Greek food, or Mexican, you come here to get it.  If you're tall or plus-sized in any way, shape, or form, you come here to buy your clothes.  I've found stuff at the grocery shops and trucks down the alley that I haven't seen in months, like Swiss and pepper jack cheese, sour cream, Diet Sprite, and fresh basil growing in little pots.  Are you craving a hand-made burger after eating kimchi bokimbop for several months?  Come to my neighborhood.  Do you miss real strips of American bacon, or pancakes?  It's down the street.  Falafel?  Got it.  A nice bottle of Italian wine?  Everywhere I look!  Delicious vegan food?  I'm completely surrounded by it.

In other words, I'm living in the lap of luxury.  I can't even begin to explain to you how this feels.  And the food is only the beginning.  Now, when I order takeout (like flat rice noodles with spicy peanut sauce and tofu with 8 different stir-fried vegetables), I can tell the owner how delicious his food is...and how I just moved up the street and will be in quite often...and he can tell me back, "Oh, lovely!  Our new best customer!  Have a terrific day!"  It feels so good it brings tears to my eyes.  I can't explain it.  You have to live it to fully understand.

People over here have dogs, too.  Not just tiny chihuahas, but like, husky mixes, and beagles!  Actually, my first day here, Kim and I were walking the streets of my new 'hood and saw a beagle tied to a rope and went up to pet it.  When I did, I burst into tears right out in the street.  I had no idea how much I missed my dog!  But don't worry--I've passed the same dog 3 times already and didn't cry the 2nd or the 3rd times!

That day, after arranging my new space a bit,  Kim and I had hit the streets.  We were hungry for lunch, and I needed more furniture to fill my new apartment.  It came with a TV, which was sitting on the floor, and a tiny wardrobe which might fit about a third of my clothing.  Literally right down the alley, we found a small store selling a TV cabinet and clothing rack which were perfect.

"How will we get this home?" we wondered.  The lady spoke no English, which actually seems to be pretty rare in this neighborhood.

"Let's just buy it and see what happens," I suggested.  I whipped out my wallet and made the transaction.

"Delivery?" the lady asked.

"Nay!" I confirmed.  How fabulous!  She asked for the address and I pulled out my iPod to show her the picture of the sign in front of my place.  She nodded and knew exactly where it was--right up the first alley from her store.  She communicated to us that it would be delivered at 2pm by pointing to a clock.  Plenty of time to get lunch first!

We walked a bit more down the main road and found an Italian restaurant.  We hadn't even hardly seen the menagerie of ethnic restaurants immediately surrounding us and we were already floored by the luxuriousness of an Italian restaurant existing somewhere closer than 2 subway stops away.  I had no idea yet that that we were not even beginning to scratch the surface!

On Day Two, I walked further down the street and found a second-hand shop where I bought a long table for my kitchen (which has no counters) and a dresser.  A real dresser.  With drawers in it.  These also got delivered within a couple of hours.

I felt really good about myself.  I had just moved all by myself and paid for it all by myself.  I furnished it all by myself.  I don't need anybody!  I'm the best boyfriend I've ever had!  I buy myself furniture, jewelry, I get my nails done...I'm probably even getting a cleaning lady pretty soon!  My new teacher friend has one and it's super cheap and it sounds so worth it.  I finally feel like a healthy, independent, real-live grown-up.  I've never felt so amazing in my life!

And all of this is only the beginning.  My new job is absolutely amazing.  First of all, they let me just observe all week--something virtually unheard of in Korea, I believe.  On Monday they let me leave after kindergarten at 2:30pm, and they gave me Friday off!!!  Just so it would be an easy, stress-free week!  Meanwhile, Jessica, my replacement, is calling me from friends' cell phones asking me what to do at her new job since no one's really telling her!  At my new school, I'll be teaching in the preschool class along with my new head teacher, Amy, who is South African, and a Korean bilingual teacher.  There are 10 kids in the class and 3 teachers, including myself, will be in there with them at all times.

The way that they teach there is really cool.  After large group circle time on the carpet, we divide into 2 smaller groups at the 2 tables for "planning time."  It's when we ask the children one-by-one what  they would like to do for the day.  They are simultaneously practicing their English while becoming confident in their abilities to make their own plans and decisions.  It goes something like this:

Teacher:  "Elizabeth, what would you like to do today?  Where would you like to go?"

Elizabeth:  "I'd like to go to the Art Area, and the House Area."

Teacher:  "OK, what would you like to do in the Art Area?"

Elizabeth:  "I'd like to make a princess puppet."

Teacher:  "OK, then, off you go!"  and Elizabeth is allowed to go off and do her thing for the next hour.

During that hour, the teachers are walking around, talking to the children about what they are doing, or playing with them.  Once time is up, we all clean up together, and then we go back to our small groups do discuss what we've done.  This is called "Recall Time."

Needless to say, the preschoolers at this school know much more English than at my previous one.  They have more one-on-one attention from the teachers, and they are doing things which are appropriate for their age-level.  It's more natural and it makes way more sense, and everyone is much happier.  No one was running, no one was screaming and going crazy, and no one was hitting each other.  They all know that crazy run-around time comes later, and there is no pent-up energy/aggression to take out on each other.

I think it took my last job to make me really appreciate this one.  Everything happens for a reason.  I am grateful for my time at the last school, and even more grateful for my time at the new one!

Yesterday, I walked over the hill to Itaewon for a bit of shopping while blasting the Notorious B.I.G. in my iPod:  "How you livin', Biggie Smalls?  In mansions and Benzes givin' ends to my friends and it feels stupendous!"


And it does feel stupendous.

Hmmm....Thai food for dinner?

Boxes all packed!

Three suitcases packed...

Plus all of these.  OMG.

Is it all going to fit in this little truck?

Yep!

Peeking out from my hobbit door!

Looking down my little alleyway

Looking up the alley

My new kitchen and front door

I'm using my 2nd smaller room as a closet/dressing room

That's a dresser!

View from standing in the front door...you can see in my bedroom, and that's the dressing room on the left, and the bathroom beyond the fridge

My new bedroom/living room

TV stand

The couch and little glass table, which came with the apartment

My new bathroom/laundry room (the shower is right when you walk in and not separated from the rest of it)

I can get on the roof!

View from my rooftop

That's Seoul Tower in the distance on the left--it's so close!

The same view at night

Seoul Tower lit up all rainbow (This picture doesn't do it justice)

I'm loving these views...

The view in the day...

...and at night

Looking up my alley from the bottom

My building is on the very right-hand side, with the glass-closed staircase.  I'm on the bottom floor!

P.S.  I have two guest beds!