Or should I say “movin’ on up!”
The view from the 19th floor…
On Thursday we moved into this brand spanking new apartment building…
Still in Gireum, in fact we are across the street from the old joint. We lived on the 5th floor of Building 105 shown in this photo I took from the new apartment. Not directly above the subway anymore, so I have an additional five minute walk added at the beginning of my commute…
I was pretty impressed with the efficiency of the movers. One million won bought 3 men and 1 woman for the day, including a truck and…
…this elevator like device.
So, the movers show up at 0800. The woman does the kitchen (naturally) while the men set about disassembling things that needed disassembled and packing up everything else that didn’t. They had the old place emptied out by noon.
Given our dizzying new heights, they used the elevators to bring our possessions into the apartment.
When I had my shit shipped back to the USA, they just left my house filled with boxes (although they did put the beds and stuff together). Not these Korean movers–everything was unpacked and if something was dirty (like the refrigerator) they cleaned it!
It was all completed by around 1830. They all worked their asses off and it made that one million seem like a pittance.
The new place has three bedrooms and two baths and is much more modern and high tech. I was trying to figure it all out and set off some alarm, so the maintenance guy had to come up and reset it. Jee Yeun admonished me to not touch the control panel again. Fine by me.
Yesterday was my half-day at work (I’m on a 20 hour per week contract, and do 8 hour shifts on Monday and Wednesday) so I got to test out my new commute. I had some things I wanted to take care of on base, so I headed out at 0900. You are welcome to join me for the ride if you want…
Every commute starts with slipping into your shoes, right?
Stepping into the scary elevator for the ride down. I say “scary” because they are all encased in plywood, with tape and graffiti. I guess they’ll stay that way until all the apartments have been occupied.
Down the driveway…
…across the boulevard and past the bus stops…
…Gireum station, line #4, entrance #3…
through the turnstiles…
…and onto the train. I actually had to stand for 3 stops, but seats usually open up at Dongdaemun…
By Seoul station the car was almost empty. Two more stops and I’m at…
…Samgakji! This puts me 25 minutes into my commute.
This guy is always in the station. Never heard him sing, but I assume he does golden oldies. *ahem*
As I leave exit #1 I see it has begun to rain. I have a ten minute walk yet, but I’m too lazy to dig the umbrella out of my backpack…
Through this gate and I’m on the hallowed grounds of US Army Garrison–Yongsan.
Plenty of time to take care of a little banking…
…and grab a quick bite to eat at the food court. Wasn’t feeling like BK or Popeye’s….
…and Subway or Chinese weren’t what I wanted either…
Ah, but some Taco Bell would hit the spot. Three crunchy taco supreme and a large diet Coke took the edge right off those hunger pangs…
So, I work for the Yongsan Army Education Center, which as you may have discerned is upstairs from the Post Office. But I don’t work there, I just drop by to pick up mail…
I’m still facing a one hour bus ride to get to work. Although I do get paid for riding the bus…
My destination is K-16. The ROKs use it as a military airport, the Army has a fleet of helicopters based there…
Crossing the Han…
Better to be riding than driving…
Finally arriving at my duty station. I’m downstairs in the computer lab. Where the work is not quite as intellectually stimulating as my morning commute…
Speaking of being stimulated, one of the purposes of going in early yesterday was to check in with the boss of the unit I use to run. I’m holding out some hope that he may choose to re-employ me. With my friend Dennis’ recent departure, there is a vacancy. Unfortunately, the boss was in a meeting. So, I had a nice visit with some of my old staff and they all expressed the hope I’d be brought on board. Well, Dennis’ job as the supervisor has been filled by an internal promotion, but that still leaves a vacancy. The person I would work for was hired after I left, so she doesn’t really know me (although I did join her and Dennis for dinner last summer). So, I dropped by her office to say hello.
I asked how things were going and she said it was pretty hectic since Dennis left. I casually mentioned that I’d be happy to help her out with that, but she really didn’t respond to that one way or the other. I visited with a couple of other folks and as I was leaving, she asked if she could talk with me for a few minutes. Of course I said of course.
She showed me a policy memo that had been written during my tenure and asked for my interpretation of one of the clauses. Well, I frankly didn’t remember much about the policy or why it was written, but I gave it a quick read and hemmed and hawed my way through my best guess of what it meant. I wasn’t really satisfied with my response and I’m not sure my insights answered her question. She thanked me and I left.
During my long bus ride I got to wondering if that had been an impromptu interview or test or whatever to ascertain if I still had what it takes to be a useful addition to her team. Now, I’ve been out of the game for four years but I don’t think I’ve got that much stupider. And when I was in the game, I didn’t tend to shoot from the hip and make any policy interpretations without much more careful consideration. So, maybe I should have told her that instead of trying to come up with a best guess on-the-spot. Or maybe she was just seeking an opinion and there was no other motive so I should stop stressing about it. I guess I’ll find out in due course.
And finally, after work I hoofed it into Itaewon, grabbed some dinner, drank some beers, and threw some darts. Won the tourney (W30,000) and hit the double out jackpot (W66,000), so there’s that.
“On Thursday we moved into this brand spanking new apartment building…”
“We”? Not “I”? Is there some good news that I missed? I thought I was pretty good about keeping up with your blog, seeing as Long Time Gone is on my feed, but I feel as if I’ve missed something crucial.
Oh goodness, you work where I used to live. We were stationed at K16 from 2009-2011. We lived just up the hill from the gate.
Thanks for commenting Crystal. My time at K-16 was short lived. Took a job with my old organization on Yongsan, got promoted, and these days I’m down at Camp Humphreys.
That’s life!