The Universe, Earth, Asia, South Korea….

When people ask about where I live here I never know exactly how specific to get.  Obviously, I live in South Korea.  The province I live in is called Incheon.  I don’t really understand yet how much of Korea Incheon covers.  Within Incheon there are lots of towns (I guess that’s the right word).  The town that I live in is called Yeonsu.  

Yeonsu is not exactly beautiful according to normal definitions, but it definitely has it’s own charm.  Walking down the street you will see tall buildings with signs on their outsides for restaurants and shops on every floor, not just ground level.  You will most likely see dozens of bars, restaurants, and coffee shops.  I really don’t understand how they all survive.  It also has a strange mixture of western chains, (like Pizza Hut, Baskin Robbins, and Mcdonalds) traditional Korean stores and restaurants that sometimes require you to sit on the floor, and hybrid places that want to appeal to everyone.  These hybrid places are the funniest, because they often have signs and advertisements that pretty obviously came from Google Translate or really just don’t make sense.  For example, in my apartment building there is a pizza place called “Mr. Pizza.”  Above the sign is the enticing catchphrase, “Love for Women…”  One nearby bar is called “Touchdown” and it’s logo is, “Drink Beer.” There is little second-hand language subtlety!

One of my favorite places to go in Yeonsu is a little coffee shop on the bottom floor of my building, called “Whoever” (Yes, my life could potentially be just like Friends).  Coffee  shops here are ridiculously expensive!  Mint tea that comes with a few pretzels cost over four dollars and frozen coffees are five.  Whoever is great though because the employees are friendly, there are tables outside, and there is a take and leave book and movie shelf that has some great English books!

The building I live in is called “Irriom,” which interestingly enough means “name” in Korean.  So I live in a building named Name…  As far as I can tell no one uses street names or addresses here, but gets around by telling taxi drivers well-known landmarks.  The landmark for my building is a huge underwear store (the store is huge, not the underwear) called BYC!  There are ten floors in Irriom and a small garden on the roof : )  

My apartment is one big room which includes a tiny kitchen.  It’s perfectly comfortable and I am very attached to it.  Even with only two suitcases of stuff, I have somehow managed to create a cluttered and messy environment!  Also, there is a crack in my wall.  If you have seen Doctor Who you should know that I stay away from this due to fear of being erased from space and time, but it is also my favorite aspect of my apartment.  

I sincerely hope to start writing in this blog more frequently!  I have a lot more to say  about Korea and my life here : D