Moving day

In this post, you can see an image of what my room at DGEV first looked like when I arrived there. Actually, I only lived in that room for about six weeks, then I moved across the hall to a room that got a lot more sun and looked directly down on the DGEV airplane. Still, living in such close proximity to the people that I work, eat, and socialize with started to get to me, and when our employer gave us the option to move away from DGEV and live in efficiency apartments off campus, I jumped at the chance.
So, on Saturday, January 9, I packed up all my stuff. And it was a lot of stuff.
This is the amount of luggage I came to DGEV with at the end of July:
A big suitcase, 2 medium-size suitcases, and nothing more. A purse. That's it.
Well, this is what I had when I finished packing on January 9:
Impressive, huh? HOW did I accumulate all that STUFF! But I wasn't alone - the other 8 teachers I moved with had just as much, if not more, stuff - we filled up the back of this truck:
Jennifer trying to smash it down?
Anyway, we got moved in, and I've lived here in my new place for about 6 weeks. We live in Chilgok, and a shuttle picks us up and takes us to work every morning. It's about a 25-minute commute. We leave at 8:00 am and are walking back through our own doors at about 6:40. So it's a long day, but it actually feels shorter to me, since I am truly able to leave work at the office at the end of the day. I thought I'd miss the convenience of being a 3-minute walk from my room, but the extra distance has actually made me a lot happier!
Downtown Daegu is only a 25-minute bus ride from my apartment, and the bus stop is a 3-minute walk away. Chilgok is great, too. In my neighborhood there are a few bakeries, a few juk (hearty porridge, eaten for lunch or dinner) restaurants, and lots of places with barbeque or soup. I can also easily catch a bus to a different part of Chilgok, where there is more shopping and even better restaurants!
This evening I took a few pictures of my apartment. It's really just a room with a bathroom, vestibule, and tiny kitchenette attached. It came furnished, but I added a few lamps and had the landlord remove the hulking TV. I haven't completely finished making it cozy (good home furnishing is SO hard to come by here!), but it's getting close.
Yes, that's a big piece of fabric covering the window. I will eventually fashion the fabric into a couple curtains, but for now it just hangs there to block the light from the love motel next door.
Same room; different direction:
The teeny kitchenette:
As for the neighborhood, it's a sort of seedy part of Chilgok - love motels, sex shops, liquor stores. But not unsafe. Korea is one of the safest places I've ever lived!