We're moving...AGAIN!

Well, to be honest, we're already just about all moved. Oh boy was THAT an adventure. It's also one of those things where you really do not realize just how much stuff you have until you try to move it. There was not furniture to move but we had clothes, suitcases, food, a laundry basket, a small hamper, plus a few boxes of TOYS. So, taking all that on the subway was not going to be an option (yikes!). Fortunately, the coordinator for the new school John's working at (more on that in a moment), sent a moving person. He loaded up all the stuff (with a little help from John) and after a bunch of talking back and forth on cell phones with the coordinator, we ALL bunch into the front seat of this truck and off we went! Yeah, first thing to learn about Korea, no car seat laws here and we had Natalie on John's lap the whole time. And yes, I was nervous as can be about it too, especially as we were going a good 80 km/mile on the roads. The old place is just north of Seoul and we were moving south of Seoul, the whole trip was about 50 km (sorry, it's all in km, don't exactly know what the conversion is) which I think is about 30 miles? But it was a LOOOONG trip even on the expressway and we saw lots of buildings, LOTS of bridges and just all kinds of different things that we don't usually see going on the subway. It was warm though and pretty muggy out so we had the windows open the whole way (not overly pleasant on my poor ear).

We FINALLY get there though with a few mishaps as far as trying to find the exact building and get everything unpacked off the truck and into the apartment. Now, how to describe that...well, I don't think apartment is the right word. SHOEBOX is more appropriate. The place is SMALL. It's supposed to be a one bedroom. Yes, it has one bedroom...sort of. There's a room with four sliding doors and then they're all closed, that makes a bedroom and there IS a bed in it and it's a queen sized bed...well, actually, a queen sized mattress on the floor (the coordinator felt that would be safer for the "baby"). There's a TV in there and places to put some clothes (if you came to the country with about five outfits per person). The "living area" is mostly kitchen with a large table and chairs. There is no couch. The fridge is the perfect size...for Natalie. It's about 4 feet tall and John figures he'll have to ask Natalie what's in the fridge. Basically, it's a dorm fridge with an added freezer. There's a microwave that we put on the fridge because there's no counter to put it on and no outlets by the little bit of counter to put anything on either. Fortunately, there is air conditioning. The bathroom has a toilet, medicine cabinet above that, a sink, and between the toilet and the sink, a thing on the wall with the shower head and that is attached to this thing on the sink.

This is where we will be living for the next year. If I don't go insane during that time I had better get a medal. Fortunately, John will be worker fewer hours and I can have him spend LOTS of time with Natalie outside. I'm convinced though that Koreans do not live in their apartments but spend all their time out and about and go out to eat. It is at least in a decent area that's within walking distance from the subway, the world's largest department store (at least that's what it said on the side of the building), and an Outback Steakhouse. So, we'll at least have things to do and we're a little closer to Seoul than we were before so we can bum around which will be good during that week John is off of work.

So that begs the question, WHY. Well, John finally got the notice that he is being replaced, officially. Back in April, the director had told him that he wasn't planning to keep John due to issues with the kindergarten class. No biggie because the director wasn't being the greatest about paying and that kind of stuff. But, it got to be two months later and we sort of started getting the idea that we were going to be staying for awhile and got the visas done, a cell phone, that kind of thing. Well, I had John ask the director the end of June to find out what was going on and that was when he was told that the new teacher was coming the 24th in time for an open house. Fortunately, he had been working with a recruiter who had a school, a public school, that needed a teacher ASAP so John got his release for the 22nd of July (two days from now). So yeah, it's been a really busy and insane month and now, we're moving to a place John has not lived in and we're both going to have to try and figure out where everything is. Should be fun. Hopefully, this will be it and a year from now, we'll have saved enough and the economy will be stable enough for us to come home. That's what I'm hoping for anyway.