Won't you be my neighbor?
Today's topic: My neighbors and "my hood"
Forgive me for the gansta jargon above, but where I live, it is only fitting. According to one of my friend's friend, the area that I live in is "unsafe" and kind of a "ghetto." Honestly, I had a HUGE laugh at that. I have never once felt freaked out by my neighborhood and my students all come from middle-of-the-road income families. My area has a couple parks, a subways stop, two huge grocery store/megamarts, many little markets, and tons of restaurants. I must clearly live in a ghetto of gold in a city of diamond then. Haha! Many of my students also live in my apartment complex/area, so it's definitely a safe place, since I see them out and about at night without a care or an anxious parent.
To me though, Korea is one of the safest countries I've been to. Italy probably being the worst because the rate of petty theft is exponential! So maybe I'm biased...Still, I laugh when I think that my area is "the hood."
Moving on from the "danger" of my neighborhood, my street is pretty nice. I live in an older apartment complex with only 4 floors. The third and forth are the landlord and landlady's floors; I only have a total of nine other families living in the building with me. We are surrounded by restaurants and just off of the main road across from my school. There are few cafes down the way, but primarily my area is a street that comes alive after work, when people need to socialize, drink, and eat. During the day it is quite. There is a seamstress and a small market, as well as a convenience store. I have two salons within a stone's throw from my front door but neither know how to cut western hair (according to my co-teacher). But to even the odds, I guess, I have the area's best shoe cobbler only ten minutes from my house. Priorities...?
My apartment complex is dwarfed by the people-farms of 20 or so stories, growing in their clusters by the school and on the boarder of my "old town." I like living in this older area though, it lets me see Korea on a smaller level, at eye level, instead of having to crane my neck all the time to see what is up, up, and up.
Inside my apartment complex, I share the first floor with the mailboxes, bikes, and three other tenants. Neighbor A is a family with a baby that I'm pretty sure is the Korean equivalent of the baby that lived above my boyfriend Alan's apartment back in MN. Raptor baby: The Return. I can see it playing a theater soon, haha! But really, this baby's screeching is akin to that of Jurassic Park's raptors, a seagull, and a cat. It's an odd combination and makes for an even odder noise.
Neighbor B works in my school apparently, but we will never meet because he is way too scared to talk to me and he works in the administration office. I wonder how he feels about living next to the NET. Haha! Hope he doesn't mind that I like to do laundry and am pretty obsessive about cleaning my bathroom.
Neighbor C is still unknown. I have seen him go into his house but I know nothing more about him. I will give more details if I find anything.
My favorite neighbors, not because I have met or know them but because they are the most unique (so this "favorite" could be read with a bit of sarcasm honestly), are the old couple that live above me with the little dog and a vacuuming at 6am obsession, and the restaurant that is literally on the other side of my kitchen window...
No, I'm not exaggerating at all. I have a restaurant less than a foot from my house. My kitchen is pretty much part of theirs. I hear them chatting in rapid Korean, dropping things, cooking things, washing things, but most of all, laughing. It's nice to be a part of this without having to be a part of it. I will one day go and eat at this restaurant, but I don't have the courage, or the language skill, to venture there yet. But maybe once I do, I can get "take in" through my kitchen window? It's worth a shot.
So that's my slice of Korea for the next year. I like my neighborhood and I'm glad that, so far, it seems to like me. I've adapted well to the little things, like no washing dishes or clothes after eleven and garbage collection day is Monday.
Next time: My school and students.
Till then, stay cool, cats. ^^
Forgive me for the gansta jargon above, but where I live, it is only fitting. According to one of my friend's friend, the area that I live in is "unsafe" and kind of a "ghetto." Honestly, I had a HUGE laugh at that. I have never once felt freaked out by my neighborhood and my students all come from middle-of-the-road income families. My area has a couple parks, a subways stop, two huge grocery store/megamarts, many little markets, and tons of restaurants. I must clearly live in a ghetto of gold in a city of diamond then. Haha! Many of my students also live in my apartment complex/area, so it's definitely a safe place, since I see them out and about at night without a care or an anxious parent.
To me though, Korea is one of the safest countries I've been to. Italy probably being the worst because the rate of petty theft is exponential! So maybe I'm biased...Still, I laugh when I think that my area is "the hood."
Moving on from the "danger" of my neighborhood, my street is pretty nice. I live in an older apartment complex with only 4 floors. The third and forth are the landlord and landlady's floors; I only have a total of nine other families living in the building with me. We are surrounded by restaurants and just off of the main road across from my school. There are few cafes down the way, but primarily my area is a street that comes alive after work, when people need to socialize, drink, and eat. During the day it is quite. There is a seamstress and a small market, as well as a convenience store. I have two salons within a stone's throw from my front door but neither know how to cut western hair (according to my co-teacher). But to even the odds, I guess, I have the area's best shoe cobbler only ten minutes from my house. Priorities...?
My apartment complex is dwarfed by the people-farms of 20 or so stories, growing in their clusters by the school and on the boarder of my "old town." I like living in this older area though, it lets me see Korea on a smaller level, at eye level, instead of having to crane my neck all the time to see what is up, up, and up.
Inside my apartment complex, I share the first floor with the mailboxes, bikes, and three other tenants. Neighbor A is a family with a baby that I'm pretty sure is the Korean equivalent of the baby that lived above my boyfriend Alan's apartment back in MN. Raptor baby: The Return. I can see it playing a theater soon, haha! But really, this baby's screeching is akin to that of Jurassic Park's raptors, a seagull, and a cat. It's an odd combination and makes for an even odder noise.
Neighbor B works in my school apparently, but we will never meet because he is way too scared to talk to me and he works in the administration office. I wonder how he feels about living next to the NET. Haha! Hope he doesn't mind that I like to do laundry and am pretty obsessive about cleaning my bathroom.
Neighbor C is still unknown. I have seen him go into his house but I know nothing more about him. I will give more details if I find anything.
My favorite neighbors, not because I have met or know them but because they are the most unique (so this "favorite" could be read with a bit of sarcasm honestly), are the old couple that live above me with the little dog and a vacuuming at 6am obsession, and the restaurant that is literally on the other side of my kitchen window...
No, I'm not exaggerating at all. I have a restaurant less than a foot from my house. My kitchen is pretty much part of theirs. I hear them chatting in rapid Korean, dropping things, cooking things, washing things, but most of all, laughing. It's nice to be a part of this without having to be a part of it. I will one day go and eat at this restaurant, but I don't have the courage, or the language skill, to venture there yet. But maybe once I do, I can get "take in" through my kitchen window? It's worth a shot.
So that's my slice of Korea for the next year. I like my neighborhood and I'm glad that, so far, it seems to like me. I've adapted well to the little things, like no washing dishes or clothes after eleven and garbage collection day is Monday.
Next time: My school and students.
Till then, stay cool, cats. ^^