The Apartment.

So.  I get off the plane.  I find the Korea International School (KIS) representative who's there to pick me up.  I load my luggage into the passenger van.  And THEN I decide to be alarmed that the apartment we're driving to could be a disaster.  Why didn't I think to worry about that earlier?!  Turns out I would have three hours in rush hour traffic to consider worst case scenarios.  This was the first song I heard on the radio in the passenger van:

http://youtu.be/DO2Y2sGZ1dk

NOTE TO SELF:  Do not laugh and smile when you find it funny to be listening to classic American oldies in Korea or the very nice passenger van driver may decide to attempt to please you by turning up the volume.  Said volume may then be left on the loud setting.  And horror of horrors, Kenny G may come blaring out of the speakers as you're trying to remain calm in a rain storm.  While suffering from sleep deprivation.  In a 3-hour long traffic jam. 

Though I didn't realize it a month ago, I would have liked to have left three things behind in the States:

1.  Kenny G.  (see above)
2.  Spam (it's everywhere here)
3.  Crocs (as in the shoe)

The good news?  The only horror of horrors in this blog post involves Kenny G.  Turns out I had nothing to worry about when it came to the apartment!  It is smallish by Wisconsin standards, possibly a good size by Seoul standards, clean with only a hint of mold smell (not uncommon here) in the living room, and well furnished.  After a full 24 hours of travel, it felt good to be in my new home.  Here's a tour:

View of bedroom from kitchen doorway - KIS even purchased a brand new wardrobe and dresser for me to use!



View of kitchen from the front door of the apartment - it took me a bit to figure out why I liked it so much.
Then I realized...the counters were made for a short person.  Yippee!

A tiny picture of a tiny living room...

I have a Korean-style shower...a drain in the floor and a shower head on the wall.  I'm quickly becoming a convert to this idea...saves important square footage in a city of 9.8 million people, keeps the floor clean, and avoids having to clean a moldy shower curtain.  We just won't discuss the mold along the edges of the window.

  

Even though the bathroom is a bit, um, outdated in terms of decor it's clean and functional.  Hooray for having a Western style toilet - let's just hope it keeps working.  How would you get the back off to do any repairs?!

Front door - I was relieved to find that #101 meant a raised ground floor...not ON the ground floor.  My apartment feels pretty private and safe as all my windows have a frosted window film and security bars on the outside.

Apartment steps going down to lobby and exit.

View as I leave my apartment lobby.

I took all these pictures as soon as I walked in the door...any random objects sitting around were left by KIS.  And delightful random objects they were!  I can't say enough for the thoughtfulness of the business office setting up basic food and supplies before I even arrived.  Can I complain that the food included a massive bag of potato chips, white bread, and lots of sugary blueberry bagels with full fat Philadelphia cream cheese?  My hips are happy, and I'll just take a bit of a break from using that bathroom mirror!  

Other thoughtful touches included a vacuum cleaner, iron with ironing board, phone, trash cans, basic plates and silverware, a frying pan, cleaning supplies and towels.  Boring, trite information to add to this blog, you say?  Ha!  Try bargain hunting for this stuff in Seoul!  Many of these items are three times as expensive as you'd find in the states...culinary snob that I am, I STILL haven't swallowed the shock of the price of pots and pans enough to have the strength to carry any to a checkout line.  An expat I met the other day went off on what sounded like a well-worn rant about the lack of foreign competition to keep prices down in Korea...imagine eyes bulging, hands waving, and a maniacal smile on the face of an otherwise perfectly delightful Candian as he bellowed on about being able to buy Korean products for a third of the price when visiting other countries.  

But I digress...the point here is that so far my employer gets major brownie points in helping me with the moving transition.  And I'm ready for guests!  Just let me know when you'd like to visit...