We arrived late on Thursday night and were warmly greeted by Justin and his dad, Professor Jang. We met Justin and got to know him a little bit during spring semester. He graduated from AU in May in finance, and we met his family at graduation. Prof. Jang is an engineering professor at the University of Ulsan, where I will be working. We stayed at a hotel the first two nights. On Friday, Justin, Prof. Jang, and Justin's mom, Keun-yung, picked us up and took us to see our apartment. It is in a good location in town - easy bus access and near a huge park. The building is undergoing a major renovation, and we have a lovely apartment on the 4th floor. Floors 1 to 3 are currently a construction zone. It's pretty messy on the way into the building. Our apartment opens into a small hallway, including a closet just for our shoes. We are getting used to taking off our shoes when we arrive home (one of the rules of the campus-provided apartment), but it's a bit tricky with both of us standing there! The kitchen has a cook top but no oven. There is a washing machine in the bathroom. Dryers are rarely used in Korea, so we bought a clothes drying rack that is on our very narrow porch - just wide enough for the rack!
The Jangs then took us to Lotte Mart for some shopping - sheets, etc. We've been back a couple of times on our own for more apartment amenities and also for food shopping. It's got everything. We've been able to poke around and look at all the prepared food in the produce and meat sections - sort of like a mini deli. I don't think I am going to be eating too much salad, but there are at least 10 kinds of greens suitable for cooking. Michael likes getting the cart because a coin is inserted to unlock a cart and then returned when the cart is put away - he has it all figured out.
We then took a tour around campus and then had a delicious Korean lunch at a restaurant that was out of town a bit -down a one lane bridge and a gravel road. The mountains are right behind. We sat on the floor on pillows and there is a low table where MANY small bowls of side dishes were placed in the center. We had our own bowl of rice with vegs. and also soup. Michael was quite impressive using his chopsticks. He is making me look bad with my fork.
Saturday Justin and Prof. Jang picked us up and we brought our suitcases to the apartment. We also took another trip to Lotte Mart. Prof. Jang walks faster than I do and is quite fit; while we did the shopping (with Justin finding things and me trying not to get distracted by all the unfamiliar and interesting things), he walked several blocks and picked up bus passes for us. We got back to the apartment and they headed home. We arranged things and unpacked. Then the Jangs had us over to their home for dinner. They are on the 14th floor and have a good view of part of the city (mountains block view of whole city). In their kitchen is a large kim chi refrigerator - yes, just for storing kim chi. I had heard of these but never guessed how big it would be for a small family.
We have felt so thankful for Justin and his family. God's providence in our entire process of applying for the professional improvement leave to meeting Justin to our very smooth arrival has been so evident. We didn't know our living arrangments until about a week before we departed Auburn, but we did not have any anxiety. We had met Justin and his family, and when we were in Seattle in early July, I had dinner with my main accounting professor contact, Prof. Jeong Youn Kim. We knew there was somewhere for us to live - but it was so nice to be all set to move in when we got here. A prayer helps too. I think we were kind of shocked by the construction zone and had a few things about the apartment that struck as as negative at first sighting (quickly taken care of with all purpose spray and paper towels), but on Sat. morning Michael prayed "Thank you for our apartment." It immediately changed our whole outlook, and even when we got back to the apartment Sat. it seemed so amazing to us that we have such a nice place.
Thank you for your interest in our Korea adventure!
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