House and Surrounding Area

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Ok, so I figured I might as well tell/show you guys a little bit about where I living. I'm in a city called Bundang. Apparently it translates to something along the lines of "Second to Heaven". I'm not sure its exact population, but I've heard ranges from 1-2 million. The local gathering spot of people and mall is at an area called Samsung Plaza. This is a combination of a mall, a plaza (who would have known) filled with tons of different restaurants, stores, bars and offices, and finally a connection point for the subway and buses. Our actual apartment building is in an area known as Janang Town (not too sure about spelling on this one...).

Bundang is a very ritzy area and from what I've been told we are quite privileged to be living here compared to other areas in South Korea. The mall portion of Samsung Plaza is high-end, aimed towards wealthy people hosting stores such as Gucci, Prada and Holt Renfrew. I have yet to walk around the actual stores and tease my eyes with the various overpriced products....maybe payday. As for the outdoor plaza - it's about 100 yards long, 5 stories tall and just FILLED with different types of places. I don't have a picture as of yet, but I hope to have one soon. This is quite the site at night because each place will have its own neon sign instructing possible patrons as to what floor it can be found on.

Many of the current teachers have their favourite bars at Samsung. A few crowd favourites are Monkey Beach. They sell "Buckets" which consist of an actual sand bucket, Soju - the Korean drink of choice (reminds me of a very, very cheap vodka...very cheap money wise as well!!), 1 shot of 151 rum, and your choice of Coke, Cider (7up/Sprite) or mango juice. These can be deadly. Another favourite is Dublin's. This Irish Pub is small, yet serves "Western" drinks and has good live music on Wednesday nights. Although Kovats and I like these 2 bars, we've made it our unofficial goal to be adventuresome and try out the many others in Samsung. So far we're doing pretty well...

Our apartment is small, but I was expecting this. My actual room is smaller than what I had in residence at university, but I have a living area and "kitchen" which gives me more space. Our apartment is in the basement of the building, so it's nice and cool down here on a hot humid day. Hopefully it isn't too cold during the winter!

Just a short walk from our school/apartment there is a park with a man-made "lake" (it's really just a big pond) which has a path that you can walk/jog all the way around the lake. At one area in the lake there is a bungee jumping platform. The platform is 45 meters high and from the top you have a great view of the mountains in the surrounding area. On one of my short days (Thursdays I get off at 2:30pm) two fellow teachers knocked on the apartment door and asked if I wanted to walk to this park. Being new to the school, country and apartment I said "sure" since I really didn't have anything else to do. Before leaving, I had no idea this park had bungee jumping. A little over halfway to the park I was told this. For about 20 minutes prior to being told this I kept saying "There's no way I'm going bungee jumping!!". Finally after watching about 10 people jump, I decided that I would be able to handle it. I can now proudly say that I've gone! I held my digital camera in my hand when I jumped to take a video, so once I figure out how to post a video I'll be sure to include it! The best part about this park is that it only cost $25!! If you go 6 times, your 7th is free. I hope to at least get one free jump before I leave Korea.

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Photos

Bungee!!
This is (from left to right) Katie, Ania and myself all strapped in at the top of the bungee platform.

Smile!
Ania being hooked-up to the bungee cord.

Bird's Eye View
This picture is from the top of the bungee tower. If you look at the residential area in the centre of the picture, we would be the area furthest to the right that isn't the tall apartments (just above and to the right of the parking lot).

Golf Anyone?
Believe it or not, these two green nets are driving ranges. They are quite a common site here. Below are a few tombstones and mounds.

Apartment B02
This is our apartment door. Most locks are electronic, so we don't have to worry about carrying around a key.

Apartment
This is where I now live. Only one apartment has a family. The rest are for the teachers.

Entrance
This is what you see when you first walk in. My room has the open door, then you can see our kitchen table and the couch.

Kitchen
This is our kitchen. It's small, but I guess that's appropriate because we havn't cooked a single lunch or dinner since we've been here. And YES, the Cheerios taste the same here!!!

Samsung Plaza
This is Samsung Plaza at night. All the lights are signs for bars, stores, etc. They let you know which floor to go to. Sorry for the quality of the pic, my night setting isn't the greatest.

Samsung Plaza #2
Here's a side view of a few of the signs.