It has come to my attention that many of you know I am in South Korea and not a whole lot else besides that fact. So let’s talk about Daegu, shall we?
Daegu is the third largest city in South Korea and is about 1 1/2 hours away from Seoul by train. The city is divided into districts and most of them are complete concrete jungles. We live in Jung-gu! Fun fact: Jung-gu means “center”. We live on the 10th floor of Hwasung Greenvill. It’s an older building but the apartments are huge by Korean standards. Our security gaurd always greets us when we enter and exit, despite his lack of English language skills. I can walk down our street past several bars, a 7-Eleven, and SO MANY Korean BBQ restaurants. The monorail is just around the corner!
Initially, the smell of Korea hit me like a truck. The sewer system is easy to catch a smell of when walking during the day. We couldn’t figure out what exactly that smell was, though we knew it was familiar. Dad opened a sealed package of pickled radish (a common after dinner snack) and we knew immediately that the smell of Korea is best described as concentrated pickled radish.
Daegu is a wonderful city to live in, but it is so much prettier at night! The lights are neon, the streets are clean, and the crime rate is nearly nonexistent. The Korean people are mostly friendly. The chicken restaurant just outside of our apartment is run by the president of the English clinic in Busan and her husband, so we have an English speaking ally nearby at all times! Speaking of chicken – Daegu is famous for it’s chicken! They have festivals centered around fried chicken and beer. Apparently, that pairing is award winning. I’m addicted to the soy chicken.
The language is easy to learn, but intimidating to start. So far my vocabulary consists of the following phrases:
Hello
Hello (more respectfully)
Thank you
Thank you (more respectfully)
Sorry
Delicious
How much is it?
Somehow, I’ve managed to get by on these phrases alone. I’ve noticed that almost all Koreans have better English than I have Korean. It’s been slow moving, but I am finally feeling comfortable (as one can be, at least) as a blonde American woman in a sea of dark haired Koreans. As I experience more, I’ll let you all know! For now, this has been a little taste of my life thus far in Daegu, South Korea.
Talk soon!
-Chessie
