New Apartment in Deungchon-dong

I stayed in my old apartment--room--for six months, which is four months too long. Though I liked the school and the colleagues, and felt very welcome there, there was virtually nothing I liked about the quarters they put me up in. It was ridiculously small (7 pyeong--though the available space was closer to 5), perched at the top of a long hill, and a long walk from any restaurants or shopping.

Last week, I moved to a new school and therefore a new apartment. Don't want to jinx it, but this is actually the best place I've had. It's 17.5 pyeong, with a large bathroom, lots of built-in storage and a fine view looking south on Mok-dong.


Because it isn't a shoebox, I was able to get all my stuff out of storage, and put up some things on the wall.


I'll even be able to do some cooking now and then, though I still need a small table to put appliances on. UPDATE: The photo has been replaced to show that the kitchen is now fully operational. You can see the Lao rice baskets on the shelf above the toaster oven.


My good buddy The Stumbler, planning a move himself, was kind enough to pass along some furnishings to really help finish the place, like the bookcases and the big table. The bed and the desk are brand new, purchased by the school on my move-in day.

And the location: it's excellent, and if you look carefully, you can actually see my first school (Young-il HS) from my big window. Some key things are the twenty or thirty restaurants within a few minutes walk, convenience stores, and E-mart one subway stop away on line 9. Oh, and a subway station located next to the building. Speaking of which:


If you look on the twelfth floor, second in from the left, you see a window with one blind down and two up.

Living in a minuscule place is possible, and perhaps liberating in some ways, as folks who've gotten into the "tiny house" movement will tell you, but it's nice to put the clothes drying rack out and not have to shift it around in order to get to the refrigerator or bathroom. One of the first things I bought for the new place was a selection of plants. There was literally no room even for a plant up the hill.

Feel free to drop by sometime!