2004-08-11 - 9:01 p.m.

Sunday, August 1, 2004 (09:30 a.m.) on the subway ... {Left Anam station @ 9:24}

I'm running a bit late. I'm supposed to meet Cho in Soeksu (Sock-sue). We are going to look at a studio apartment with shared bathroom, as the real estate agent described it to him. It is supposed to have a kitchenette corner, like Jim's last place in Seongnam did. The landlady wanted a deposit (key money) of 5 million won ($ 4,300), but Cho thinks she can be talked down. (The rental market is starting to shift away from these huge deposits in the areas where foreigners live, but the rents are so high there that I won't waste my time looking.) This place is between ShiHung and Anyang, 2 stops south of Doksan Station (Ha-an-dong) on the infamous Line One.

Getting out of Seoul is the quickest way of lowering your rent payment, but then you run into the "Key money" tradition. This evolved from the idea of a lease as a temporary purchase of a space. And, it gave the landlord a wad of cash to speculate with, or so the rumour goes in the expat community.

{Arrived at Seoksu @ 10:32, pretty good time. Waiting for Cho now.}

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Monday, August 2

The Seoksu apartment was lovely, but we found a less expensive one in Cheolsan, just a 10-minute walk from the Koalas' school. I went in early today to sign the lease. Coreans use red stamps instead of a handwritten signature,- very intricate stamps in what appear to be Chinese characters. Mrs. Yi brought her husband's stamp as well as her own. (They co-own the property.) She also brought his photo-ID card. The real estate agent was very careful to show me both cards, to point out and to carefully pronounce their names. I dutifully repeated the syllables and promptly forgot them. They're on the lease. I can read them anytime. (I don't think he realized that I can sound out Hangul script.)

Now I have a one-year lease at 25 manwon per month, about $ 215, and a deposit of ten times that. It's bigger than my Anam cellar, on the ground floor of a villa, very clean. But it has a rather odd layout. The shower is in the entryway, then there's a tiny kitchen, then the living/bedroom. This last is set into the side of the hill that the house is built on, so it's delightfully cool in the summer and will be warm (with an ondol floor) in the winter. There are windows, rectangular ones, not little high-up slices, like Anam. The place faces south-south east, I think, and it's up the hill near the yaksu-toh, the spring where I have been getting my water. The house is red brick. There are some potted plants in the yard. (One begonia looked pretty thirsty, so I gave it a drink from the outside tap.) I'm going to have LP gas, so I'll have to learn the proper phrases for talking about delivery with the gas company. It will be a treat to have a kitchen again. I also need to get some sort of clothes rack or shelves. There's no closet space. According to the lady who took us to see the place, the utilities are about two manwon a month. That's a lot less than I've been paying. Everything is metered separately, not like in Anam where we split the bills three ways. The 21 kilogram gas tank gets filled twice a year; electricity and water are billed monthly. As I understand it, I can pay the bills at any bank, just like my phone bill.

Hot, Hot, Hot! Friday, it was nearly 95 degrees F (34.7 C) and most folks are on vacation this week. Businesses have air conditioning, but I feel for the construction workers who are out in it all day. The Koalas have a half a week off, as the school is being renovated. I didn't know until I walked in and saw carpenters putting up sheetrock. One of the teachers was there supervising, and he was amazed to see me walk in, toting my book backpack. I told him I had to come to Cheolsan anyway, so it was no problem. Then I went over to the PC bang until after sundown, when the walking was a little cooler. Also picked up 3 nice pens,- black, blue and red. (There's a small, independent stationery store handy to the Koalas' school.) Cheolsan has just about everything I could want, plenty of little shops of all sorts. It's peculiar that Anam doesn't have a good stationery store, with Korea University here.

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Tuesday, Aug. 3

Gadzooks! I woke up at 12:56, got out the door by 1:08, and called Cho to tell Mrs. Hahn that I'd be late. I made very quick connections and was nearly to Kkachisan when he called back at 1:55 to say, "There's no school. Kids are on vacation this week." Same deal as yesterday; someone forgot to tell me. So instead, Cho and I had a snack and an in-depth talk about the business I'm going to be managing with the help of Syll and Gina, two Corean women friends. Cho is hoping that Syll will take over most of his classes. I need to get together with her as soon as possible, since Cho flies to Georgia on the 10th. Bahlie, bahlie...Hurry, hurry...the Corean way, rush at the last minute. He also brought me my July wages from Kkachisan and Shipsam Danji, 80 manwon. I need to check my account to see if Connie has put in the Koalas' pay, 40 manwon. [A manwon is worth about $ 8.55, right now.]

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Wed., Aug. 4

Cho called at 8:55 a.m. to ask about United ticket prices and the travel agency that got me my flight last fall. So, I need to get to a PC bang and do some online research.

---6 p.m. - headed for Yongsan by subway.

I just paid my August rent and July utilities, and gave my notice. With my extra responsibilities and the raise in transit fares (as of July 1, they went up about 30 % ), I really do need to be closer to the center of the territory I'll be covering. Spending 3 hours a day commuting just doesn't make sense. I imagine I'll be doing more fellowshipping with Coreans, as there are far fewer Westerners in that area. Korea University has a foreign exchange program; that's meant a lot of Europeans and North Americans are walking around Anam.

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Sat. (To-yo-il), August 7, Ib Chu {pronounced "Eep Chue"} Beginning of Harvest, sometimes translated as Start of Fall, which it sure isn't.

Today's doings: I met Syll and Cho at Nashville, "best hamburgers in Seoul." Nashville has set itself to become an addictive habit for Americans in Korea. The restaurant shows movies from the States, plays country and western music, has waiters who speak excellent English, and has painted the walls with nostalgic murals. Within it's environs, you can find the best parts of America. It's easy to forget about the bad parts.

Syll is stepping in as my co-worker at Shipsam Danji (the charity place). We went over the differences between teaching kids and adults. (For adults, you have to make it fun! ) ;-)

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Sun., Aug. 8

Met Syll and Carol at Itaewon. They showed me where the good produce market is. It's one street downhill from Gecko's, right on the corner. The prices there are better than Hannam Market and they really know how to take care of fresh produce: a cold-mist humidifier over the leaf lettuce, keep onions dry, don't chill bananas. I've had reservations about Hannam Market ever since I saw bananas in the cooler.

For supper, I went to Taqwa, the Pakistani restaurant that Kristin found. Had an excellent mutton and spiced rice dish, with yoghurt-drenched, slivered cucumbers and carrots, and pita bread. After that I got to the 7:30 meeting at the Lutheran Church in Hannam.

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My apologies for running on so long. Really wanted to get caught up.

Thanks for reading.

Happy Trails!

~ Sil in Corea

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