Korea: Part 2

So I've moved!! Here is my new address:

461-831

Gyeonggi-do, Seongnam-si, Sujeong-gu

Bokjeong-dong 679-1, 103

Gyeonggi is the province (-do meaning province), Seongnam is the city name (-si meaning city, I think), Sujeong is my "ward/district" (-gu meaning ward), and Bokjeong is my neighborhood (-dong meaning neighborhood). I never really understood those suffixes, but I just looked them up on Wikipedia, so take that as you will. I live in apartment 103.

There are three "gu" in Seongnam, and one of them is called Bundang. Apparently it's the richest area in Gyeonggi-do, and it's nicknamed "heaven" in Korean (or so I've been told). Sadly, I live in the older, less wealthy area of Seongnam. Actually, that doesn't bother me - when I found out I might be living in the fancy pants part of Gyeonggi-do, I was like, I can't be having that! I can't afford to live like a wealthy person.

Anyway, the move went very smoothly. My friend drove me up on Friday. My school in Buyeo was told they weren't getting a replacement for me until after this semester, so they gave up the lease on my apartment. Then they found out they actually will be getting another teacher (a Canadian girl), so they're looking for housing in nearby Nonsan. I was extremely jealous when I heard that... I could have lived in Nonsan! Nonsan is much bigger than Buyeo. Oh well. So the school sent people on Friday to take out the furniture.

That actually brings me to another point. So last week I was on vacation, but I was still in Buyeo. I went to Anyang on Monday the 15th to visit my friend Madeline (Anyang is a southern suburb of Seoul), and then Tuesday I went to the immigration office to get my new visa. Then I went back to Buyeo to pack for my trip to the east coast of Korea. On that Thursday, I went out for a bit, and imagine my surprise when I came back to find my apartment door wide open and six strange Koreans inside. They were like, Oh I'm sorry! We called the school and they said it was okay. When they saw that that explanation didn't exactly make me feel better, they beat a pretty hasty retreat. I immediately called my co-teacher to tell her what happened and ask her what was going on. She called the administration office and told me they were sorry, they thought I was on vacation and not at home. Standard. They thought I wasn't around to catch them, so it's okay to let strangers into my apartment without telling me. Showing the apartment is one thing, but doing it sneakily is another. I was furious.

On another note, my new job starts on September 1st. I'm really excited!