Happy Leap Day Everyone!
A LOT has happened this week, tons of wonderful hellos
followed much too quickly by goodbyes and ‘safe travels’. Last week staying with my super awesome
friend Heather, and her menagerie of animals, (she kept two cats and a dog in
her small Korean apartment) was so wonderful it felt like nothing had changed
in Busan. But now she and a lot of
other people have left and it’s time to start this friend-making thing all over
again.
Another huge change is that I have a new apartment! There are also more changes to talk
about but I’m going to save that for my next post.
Here is the entrance of my apartment and my shoe cubby |
My bathroom which is just to the left of the entry way. |
The location is wonderful – probably the exact opposite of
my Yeongdo apartment. My Yeongdo
apartment was one big room – and definitely a lot bigger, whereas my new
apartment is smaller, but divided into more rooms. Even though my new place is smaller, I have more storage
space so it makes it feel a little bigger than it is, plus the location really
can’t be beat. I’m prepared to be
utterly spoiled by being so close to so many things.
This time around I live on the 5th floor with no
elevator- last time I lived on the 3rd floor in a building with an
elevator- so when my hands were full of bags from Home Plus I would lazily take
the elevator- not this time around.
Also 4 people from work live in my building, which is a huge change from
last time when I was the only foreigner in my entire neighborhood.
Other than throwing a few posters on the wall I did very
little in the way of decoration last time.
Part of me felt that putting work into my apartment would be a bit of a
waste since I was only going to live there one year, but this time around I’ve
been really making an effort to make this place cozier than the last.
My main room including my bed, desk, bookcase and closet. |
Here are some of the ‘before’ pictures. I’m still not quite finished with the
place so the big reveal will occur in a later post. Also don't worry my apartment now looks much better than this- this was during moving in and will make the 'after' photos look much better.
My kitchen AND |
The task of getting my new place did require some hoops to
jump through. The times you
usually need help most in Korea are when you first arrive and as you’re getting
ready to leave. Both often
need lots of clarification and questions posed to your Korean boss or co-teacher.
I was first told that I could move into one building on the
22nd of February but then would have to move out to a different
building (about a 5 minute walk away) on the 29th. I didn’t want to have to drag all my
stuff (and the stuff my friends who were leaving graciously gave me) to two
different places in the span of a week so I asked why I couldn’t just pick one
place and move only once. A few
hours later I was told I would be moving to Star building (which is where I
currently live) and I had the choice of two rooms. I would see those rooms Wednesday night and choose which I
preferred. Two of the Korean girls
who work with me and who are very nice would take me there after work the night
of the 22nd. Then just
an hour or so after this I was told my apartment would be number 504 and I
could move in the next day once they were done cleaning the place.
This rapid fire of very drastic changes is so freaking
Korean it’ll make your head spin.
This is just how things work here and a big reminder that I’m not back
at home, and I need to remember to once again roll with the punches.
Even though it took some confusion and stress I finally have
a new home and I have to say it’s not too shabby. It’s not as tiny as Seema’s matchbox of a room, but it’s not
as big as my last place. And even
though this place came with pretty much nothing I feel like I’ve been able to
fill it up and make it seem cozy pretty quick.
Here's a little peek at part of what I'm doing as far as decorating! |
Hope you have a lovely extra day! I know I am. I might be
going to the jimjilbang – (around the corner from my apartment!!!
From Busan With Love
Jenna
Also check out the map in this post if you want to see where I live!
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