All right, I’m a little too tired tonight to do much writing, so let me whet your appetite with some photos of my little Korean homestead…..

Ok, I won’t accuse the Koreans of engaging in hyperbole, I’ll be kind and say something was lost in the translation. My villa is very nice and comfortable. A clean well-lighted place. However, it is not a Royal Palace (saw one of those in Istanbul).

My street. I really hate when I meet oncoming traffic. It is not quite wide enough for two cars.

The likely scene of my ultimate demise. This intersection has no signal. I need to turn left here to go to work. Cars come flying through. I almost got broadsided Saturday. Of course, my alternative is walking, and it is not a bad option. Except, see those stairs? Well, I should be in good shape (or dead) soon.

Ok, the one thing this place does not have that I really wanted was a view. This is what I settled for….

You can kinda sorta see the Seoul skyline from my balcony, but there is a good view from the rooftop. And the rooftop is set up for cookouts and parties. I’ll get some shots from up there when it warms up a tad.

Let’s go inside….

The entrance foyer. I have adopted the Korean custom of not wearing shoes in the house, hence the slippers….

The living room….

Dining area….


The kitchen….

Now this is pretty cool. It’s a washer/dryer combo and it’s in the kitchen. Used it tonight and it worked like a charm. Very quiet. And small. Took 3 loads to do my meager belongings (well, I had a bath towel and two pair of jeans that made a full load, then the rest of the darks and then the whites). Notice how the landlord put English labels under the Hangul. Good thing too. I did not use the dryer. Landlord says it takes a very long time and since the military housing folks lend appliances, they sent me over this nice big brand-new American Whirlpool dryer….

Which is so convienently [not] located in an alcove on my balcony. Next to the built-in vacuum system which I have already put to work. It’s great!

Ok, on with the tour….

The hallway which leads to….

The guest bedroom and my office….

and a bathroom.

Then on to the master bedroom suite….

This bed is the damnest thing. Queen sheets are too small, King are too large. Go figure.

I have lots of closet space.


And a great master bath. I have not used that big jacuzzi tub yet, but the shower is the best one I have ever had the pleasure to utilize. The six jets of hot water hit all the right places. I spend WAY too much time in there.

Along the back of the villa is this long narrow room. I saw these in a lot of the Korean houses I looked at. I still do not understand the purpose or function. I am using it as a little patio (it is accessable from my office). I guess it would be a good place for plants or something.

The view from the “patio” also pretty much sucks, but I do live near a mosque and you can see the tower from there.

And finally, especially for EuroYank who requested more photos of Korean women, I offer the three sisters who run Sweet Caroline, a bar I have been known to frequent. Left to Right are Mi-Soon, Tami, and Sister.

All right, it’s late and I’m off to bed. I will endeavor to post some news from here tomorrow.

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I am so freakin’ excited. KT (Korea Telephone) just set up my Internet! I must confess that I have felt a bit out of sorts without my daily Internet fix. Plus, I felt disconnected from the world (or at least the part of the world that is familiar to me).

So for better or worse, Long Time Gone is back in business. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do and I also owe my devoted readers some snippets of what I have been up to, but bear with me while I see what has been going on in the world this past *gasp* 3 days!

I also have some photos of my new digs I’ll put up a bit later too. It’s like Christmas for me right now, I need to go open up my other presents before I play with this one. I’ll be back in a jiffy……

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