Not completely settled in yet, but I have an apartment in Seoul, about half a mile from work and right next to a subway stop. Yay! I've been exploring the neighborhood a little bit; it's mostly high-rise ah-pah-tu's (apartments), but there are some fun side streets. There's a great bakery across the road, which I'm pretty excited about, as well as a bunch of restaurants and a few mini-marts where I can get my rice ball fix. (I'm not sure what the real name for these things is; I think they're the Asian version of the gas station sandwich--rice balls with a fish or kimchi or meat filling wrapped in seaweed and plastic. Mmmmm.) About half a mile down main road is an E-Mart, which I explored tonight. Kind of like an Asian Target on steroids...it has a bit of everything. Including an entire grocery aisle devoted to spam. Interesting. I'm sure I'll be making more visits in the future--it really was fascinating, and pretty convenient.
I start work tomorrow, officially. I've belonged to this command for a couple of weeks now, since I arrived in Korea at the end of August, but was allowed to take some leave to get settled in and checked in. Tomorrow I start learning my actual job. I'm excited--it's an interesting time to be here, and I think I'm going to learn a lot. I'm afraid it's going to be a shock to my system though--working a full day. I've only been in uniform a few times since I've been here (thankfully, since the terrible polyester "aqua-flage" is brutal in this humidity), and I can tell my feet aren't in shape for my steel-toed boots. It's going to be a good day, though. Because even if work is exhausting, at the end of it, and after a couple hours' bus ride, I get to spend the weekend with my husband!
Mike's living on post up where he works, about a 1.5 to 2 hour bus or subway ride. I feel a bit like I'm sneaking into the boys' dorm every time I come stay with him, but he assures me it's allowed, and anyway we're married. His household goods shipment arrived last week, and we've unpacked all of our wedding gifts. It's fun! My sweet husband keeps exclaiming that things are "real"--as opposed to the bachelor-pad basics, I guess. We're really enjoying having nice dishes and cookware. Now if we could just figure out where to put everything in the one-bedroom, fully-Army-furnished unit...I'm sure we'll eventually get everything put away.
I would have made more progress on the putting-away during the couple of days I was there while Mike was training, except I decided to undertake a minor home improvement. The units come standard with "Motel 8" (as Mike puts it) curtains, and since Mike's room is on the first floor overlooking the parking lot, he always kept them closed. I started my remodeling with new curtains from the store on post, the PX. I then hunted down a Korean hardware store (a hole in the wall about the same size as my first dorm room) and explained/mimed to the very patient Ahjumma (lady) what I needed; amazingly, she not only got it, but she had exactly what I was looking for--sticky vinyl (I don't even know the real term in English, haha) to go over the window to give us some privacy. Score! Then all I had to do was figure out how to get the darn stuff on the windows, with as few bubbles as possible. I won't say it's perfect, but if you're standing across the room it looks pretty good, and it gives us some nice light and welcome privacy. I'll post some pictures later.
I'm excited to be here!
No comments:
Post a Comment