A small place called home... My new apa-tuh!

So, I have officially moved into my own apartment!

It is No. 708 in the brand new office block pronounced: "MEGHA SHITEE" or for us native English speakers : "Mega City". The apartment luckily is rather contrary to what the pronunciation might suggest and is quite frankly: delightful!

Three Cheers: Whoop whoop whoop! :) So VERY chuffed about it all. I moved in last Thursday afternoon, when a removal van arrived at Nicole's apartment at 3pm. The entire process (including moving all my luggage, my bed and cupboards, trekking across the city, off-loading it all, moving in, meeting with the administrators and signing several dotted lines for-who-knows-what) took under an hour in true Korean style ("Bali bali"=hurry hurry).

Description (if I were placing an advert for it in the classifieds): one delightful officetel (5 by 15m =spacious for one), brand-spanking new, clean and mod, great view from the balcony overlooking city rooftops and Bongisan mountain, super location on busiest five way intersection in town, close to banks, outdoor market and most bus-routes. Great coffee shop and bakery downstairs and best Naerebang (karaoke place) in town!

As one friend said to me: Sheesh JO! You are living on the Times Square of Chuncheon with a Rome-like view of the rooftops. So, as you can imagine I am rather happy with life!

And have felt very domesticated as I have been shopping for all the necessities like pots and pans, cutlery, toilet paper, a clothes horse, a kettle, an ironing board, an oven, a TV and even picked out the couch I wanted! The school covers a certain array of items and because there was already a fridge and a washing machine in the apartment, I was able to get a few extra niceties that most teachers need to fork out on their own.

The most amusing thing is probably the bathroom! The space efficiency in Korea and most of Asia is remarkable but it is understandable when no shower space is actually accounted for. Rather a shower head is nicely secured onto the wall that sprays down and wets your entire bathroom... Boy o boy! SO something to get used to!

The coolest thing is definitely the remote control door that uses a special code or nifty James Bond contraption thing, that with a flick of the wrist automatically opens the door.

The funniest thing is that because I am in the techno country of the world-all my appliances have arrived before any of my furniture. So I have a micro-oven and a TV sitting on my floor at present.

As soon as I get a sofa (aka. "SO-PA" in Korean), I am hosting a party! An early evening tea with my Korean co-teachers and a party for the foreigners- on separate evenings of course!

It is a bit further from my schools, but I walked this morning and it took only 50 minutes, so in the greater scheme of things it's not bad at all. There are several buses that I can catch which saves on taxi fares, so I am thrilled!

So, as I settle in my humble abode, I extend an invitation to anyone to come and visit me: My couch-I made sure- is large and comfy enough to sleep on!

Bisous

JO