Renovation & Moving Update

Today is cleaning day in our new apartment, and we start moving in tomorrow. The most excellent news is that we are not doing the cleaning!

Since my last I have picked the wallpaper three times (first the company was too expensive, second there wasn't enough for the lounge, and third time was a charm). The girls picked their own wallpaper, so as expected, they have pink and white stripes. We also got to pick a new floor, which is quite a lovely deep greyish brown. I am very happy with the colours as they now appear on the walls, but I must say that the wall prep under the paper isn't the best. Still, we didn't have to pay for any of it, so can't complain too loudly.

I will try to remember to take photos this afternoon so you can see the rooms all finished before all our personal junk messes up the space.

So, we move downstairs starting tomorrow, and hopefully our things from the US get delivered on Thursday.

I am excited.

Renovations

Seeing as I have been updating here, as well as Facebook, I can't remember if I have said anything here about our new apartment, that is supposed to be ready for us next week.
The story so far ... (or for BSG fans, "previously on Kiwis in Korea...")
We arrived here, and our apartment wasn't ready, so we go moved into temporary accommodations. We are currently still in 301, and our new apartment is 202. There are only 8 apartments in this building, so we will be moving downstairs, and along one. Any-hoo, apartment 301 is owned by PCUSA, and so is wired for 110V, so all our misc electrical goods we left in the US would have worked here. Our new apartment will be wired for 240V.
There was a visiting professor staying in 201, and he got moved out a couple of weeks ago. We then got the keys, and took a look.
The floor was all bubbled (cheap flooring laid over underfloor heating), and all the wallpaper was white, so we picked new floor and wallpaper (out of one book) and it should all be completed by this coming Sunday.
John leaves on Monday for NZ, so we hope to have our things from the US arrive and be unpacked while he is away, and then we can move ourselves in.
Will keep you posted!

Things I have learned in Korea - so far.

1. Not to wear suede shoes on the subway - you get impressions of everyone elses shoes embossed into your ones.

2. What it feels like to be a celebrity - everyone looking at you all the time, and not being subtle about it.

3. I can cook without an oven.

4. You can lose weight only eating Special K.

5. A rice cooker is a most wonderful invention.

6. If you click buttons long enough on a furniture website, you eventually find what you were looking for.

7. Having no torrent laws is indeed a blessing.

8. Living on a seriously dry campus is not.

9. Having a label machine is invaluable = to having someone translate for you what the buttons mean on the washing machine and then covering them up with labels in English.

10. Having a combo washer/dryer makes all clothes come out like those twisted skirts we used to wear when we thought we were cool.

11. Yellow sand tastes awful.

12. Aloe drink tastes like Fijoas.

13. Road rules are optional.

14. There are an unlimited number of things that are described as food that you really don't want to put in your mouth.

15. Living on the side of a mountain involves LOTS of stairs.

Is it March already?

I am sitting here, waiting for the final episode of Battlestar Galactica EVER to download so, thought that as the computer was on, why not update you all. So, greetings to those of you who still bother to visit this blog. I had every good intention of blogging on a regular basis, but have already fallen into my usual slovenly blogging ways. Apologies.
So, it is nearing the end of March, so that means Spring is here. We have only been in Seoul for 4 weeks, and have noticed even in that short time that the weather has warmed up considerably. We started off in heavy coats, scarves and boots, and today went out in t-shirts and jeans.
On Mt Achasan, which we visit most days, there are lots of little shoots appearing out of the ground, and in the next few weeks all the cherry blossoms are expected to arrive in unseen before quantities. It is quite fun to see the mountain come alive after winter killed everything off (above ground). Mila has been climbing with John a couple of times, and Trinity and I tend to cry off if we can.
Our new apartment will be ready within the next 2 weeks, with new flooring and wallpaper throughout. I had to choose all the wallpaper from one book, so the results will be interesting. The timing of the place being ready is perfect as our things from America arrive by sea on March 28th, and the shipping company are going to hold them for free until April 10th. We hope to move in around April 2nd. John will be in New Zealand that week fulfilling his duty as best man for his cousin Matt, so we hope to get sorted while he is away.
We celebrated John's birthday on March 16th with a special cake that the girls designed. We don't have an oven so bought on at a small shop near here. The girls couldn't decide whether it should be pink, or blue, have a rainbow or flowers ... anyway, as you can see the results were perfect for a 37 year old man with 2 young daughters.
I seem to be updating my Facebook page much more regularly than this blog, so is you want you can pop over to Facebook and become my friend, then take a look at the rest of my stuff.
I will try to be more diligent here for those of you who are allergic to Facebook.