Daegu, Day 1

My sponsor told me he would pick us up at the airport, but I had no idea that my entire Camp Walker staff would be there to greet us. A convoy of well mannered Korean men and my boss escorted Bobby and me to our (very nice) hotel. This hotel, by the way, is unreal. Our room overlooks a statue garden, and we have laundry service. I'm not entirely sure how to use laundry service, but I've been encouraged to give it a go (it is also covered by the government).

Bobby and I are seasoned travelers, and we are used to finding our own way around. Imagine my surprise when a car with a uniformed driver came took us to Camp Walker this morning, and we were again surrounded by an entourage of polite Korean men who wanted to know when to pick us up! We had a whirlwind tour of the base, where I saw my new office, which is about as big as our old bedroom. Mr Pan, our senior library assistant, is every bit as polite as I have heard.

We then visited a realtor, who had an apartment for us to look at. I know it's not a good idea to take the first car, house, or apartment you look at, but this apartment is perfect. It's practical—less than a mile from base, pet friendly, easy access to the bus and subway, right across from a park where we can walk Maya—but what won us over was its romantic allure. It's on the side of a mountain, and you can see all of Daegu from one window and the lovely Apsan park from the other. There's a rooftop “balcony” where we can grill. It's actually so large we can fit almost three of our old houses inside. I guess we'll need some new furniture.

So, starry eyed, we said we'd take it. Our new landlord seemed thrilled. I'll bet government funded tenants are some of the best kinds. There's a lot of red tape to go through. There are negotiations on both sides: we give the landlord our conditions, and we both sign off on them. Our really friendly realtor helped us decide what conditions we want, like internet access and transformers so we can plug in our American appliances. He also made sure we knew the places to visit around Daegu, and kept asking if there was anything else we needed to know.

So it's been an eventful day, more so because I was up at 3am. Apparently it can take weeks to get used to the time change. Koreans are some of the friendliest people I have ever met. I am not used to being treated like this! I'm sure part of it is my lavish expense account, but I'm very touched all the same.

Pictures:
Our electric teapot. That tea was pretty gross.















Our safety light: These are in every room and at intervals down the hallway. All I know is that I use it in an emergency. Our room also has coils of rope and matches in our safety box.







Our keycard holder. When we take that sucker out, the lights in our room go out. Electricity in Daegu is incredibly expensive if you use more than your allotment, so people around here are very careful about their usage.

I meant to bring my camera out today, but I forgot it. I also failed to take a picture of the somewhat creepy statue garden outside of our house. More to come.