Mr. Kwon's Neighborhood

Our landlord is Mr. Kwon. We prefer to call him "The Kwon" (a la Jerry Maguire). In our Kwon fantasy, he is the head of the Korean mafia. (Yes, we've been watching too much of The Sopranos, how can you tell?)

Anyhoo, as head of the Korean mafia, Mr. Kwon owns tons of property around here (this is a true fact). Whenever we are talking with Korean workers around here, they ALL know the Kwon. "Oh, yes, Mr. Kwon, I call him now and tell him I am at your house drilling a gigantic hole in your wall for satellite." Apparently he also used to manage the BX on base.

In addition to knowing everyone around here, the Kwon spies on us. (Maybe, not really.) Anyways, the boys came up with this part of the Kwon fantasy themselves. They think that all of the security system monitors throughout the apartment are Mr. Kwon looking at us. And, honestly, for all we know, he is watching us. Hi, Mr. Kwon!

When rent time comes around, we have to pay in cash. This is a lengthy process involving many trips to the ATM, bank, and money exchange to end up with a fat wad of won. The biggest bill they have is a 10,000. So, if we need over a million won to pay our rent and bills, you can do the math, but trust me, it's a lot of bills. So, it always feels like some mafia drug deal when The Kwon comes to collect.

Since I have been meaning to share pictures of our neighborhood with you, this is the perfect time to share with you, Mr. Kwon's Neighborhood:

our apartment building

there is an "empty" lot next door to our apartment building where all the stray cats live:

Lucky for us we live on the first floor and have bamboo that covers our windows so when we look out, we don't see all of that.

But we do see this everyday as we walk to the bus stop. In Korea, you have to separate your trash. The worst part is separating the food scraps. Luckily, my building does not do this, thank you, Mr. Kwon. We just have to buy special trash bags that cost $1 a bag.

The main street that our apartment is on seems to be in what we call the "tool" district. All of the shops sell tools or car parts.

these are the people in your neighborhood....


Across the rubbish-strew empty lot that is our neighbor on one side, there is a small, family-owned garbage dump. Well, it's more of a recycling center depot. All around town you can see Koreans, mostly elderly, pulling these carts that are usually heavily laden with cardboard or other recyclables. I never seem to have my camera at the right time, this one is empty, but I've seen cardboard 10 feet high, not kidding.

My good friend Kristine did a post on her blog about the highlights of Germany. There were all of these picturesque views of the rolling hills surrounding her quaint little German home. All very beautiful and pastoral. I always think of that when I see this stuff.

Up on our roof deck, you can take in these sweeping vistas:

This church is right across the street from us and looks in on Madeline's room. It's nice but I cannot get over the neon lights that are on it. Doesn't really go with a church, kwim?

Our local rice paddie (this was taken in the summer, right now it's all dirt)

This pet store called Star Dog is across the street from the bus stop. It bothers me that it is right next to a restaurant called BBQ.

Look, we have 7 Eleven! It has weird things in it like meats on sticks and something called an ear pick which looks very scary.

Don't feel sorry for me, look at this great shopping: JC Penney is next to a store called Vogue! How's that for cosmopolitan!

Come to Korea, Land of the Morning Calm!