by Cat on December 3, 2008
I’ve been feeling bad about not updating the blog for so long. I keep meaning to write about all the things I’m sad we’re leaving behind, but everything has been such a whirlwind, lately. As I told a friend of mine here, it’s hard to process and analyze what’s going on enough to write it all down, when you’re so busy that just “doing” things takes all your time.
Fortunately, I’ve been doing lots of things. Unfortunately, I’ve been doing none of them very well. I accepted a short assignment doing some research on Korea for an expat business about to be launched. (Details confidential, obviously.) So, I’ve been portioning out my day, trying to balance doing regular home and kid upkeep things (cooking for us and Susana, laundry, cleaning); moving things (talking with our moving company, going through and organizing our stuff, making arrangements to sell or get rid of things we can’t take back to the U.S.); and work things (oh yeah, and Christmas shopping!). I also need to make time to see a lot of people at least one more time before we move. We fly out Dec. 18.
Tags: expats
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by Dave on December 2, 2008
Rat
Originally uploaded by David_Harris
In my 3 years in Seoul, this is the first rat I’ve run across. I’m assuming every major city has rats, so I can’t blame this on just Seoul or Korea.
by Dave on December 2, 2008
5D MkII
Originally uploaded by David_Harris
This 5D MkII was among the first batch to arrive in Korea last Friday.
My wallet is empty right about now, but I’m hoping this little beastie will earn its keep over the years with lots of good pictures and movie clips.
by Cat on November 24, 2008
I’ve been working on a Top 10 list of the things I’ll miss most when we leave Korea and since I’m having trouble narrowing it down, I thought I’d just give each thing it’s own post, and then add in several ‘honorable mentions’ as needed.
Coming it at number 10 (ironically not because it’s tenth in importance, but because I thought of it first) is the ondol floor heat. We just cranked on our ondol system about a week ago. It just makes winter seem much more bearable if you can get up in the morning and step on a warm floor. It sometimes makes me wish we’d gone more traditional with our furnishings when we moved here. A lot of families still eat at low tables, sitting on the floor, and sleep on the floor using a sleeping mat, yo, and ibul, Korean-style quilts. The yo and ibul fold so you can put them away during the day, as do the dining tables.
We have a platform bed that is lower than a typical Western bed, but still off the floor. This morning, I picked up one of the pillows I’d discarded beside the bed overnight and it felt as warm as an electric blanket, just from sitting on the floor. Since heat rises, the whole room does eventually get warm, and, unlike forced-air heat, doesn’t seem to dry out the air in the apartment as much. It would just have been a lot more efficient, plus save a lot of space, if we’d learned to sleep and eat on the floor.
