July 12 - Moving Out, Moving On

There's a healthy dose of phrasal verbs for ya. With the end of my Seogang classes in the mornings and the return of the five day work week, I found myself in a slump, unable to fill the void of "free time" with something meaningful, productive. It ultimately comes down to sweltering summer lethargy and the hazy mishmash of post-Korea plans [and something about selling to CDI my few precious hours in which I could define myself as something other than a teacher just doesn't settle well with me]. The solution to any of my melancholic moments: change something.

I had gone through a mental list of the mutable domains in my life - job, apartment, girlfriend (just kidding Jini), gender (just kidding Mom) - and realized the most practical, most logical, most inspiring, and most cheapestest... the domicile. It's time to move out of the gu! Gangnam Gu-Chung has served me well for the last year, as an outpost for all sorts of social functions, most of them involving raw meat and a redneck bbq blackbelt. It's also a stone's throw away from work (and I give serious literal thought to this ^^), Apgujeong, and Jini's office. At the same time, it's also a hefty eight hundred bucks a month and to be honest, a little lonely sometimes. Heather and Kelly moved back to the 'hood (Itaewon), leaving me with only the occasional nod of recognition from the corner store guy and the usual perplexed stares of passersby on the daily route to work. As I've noted in the past as well, moving into a neighborhood under development isn't a sound move unless you have plans to stick it out until it's developed. In the case of Gangnam, I'm convinced they're'll never be an end to the construction. By the time they finish erecting these monstrosities all around me and the subway below, it'll be time to tear my building down anyway. Thus, I say Kaja! (let's go).

This evening, Heather took me on a tour of her friend's semi-vacant house in Itaewon, right near where I used to live in 2004. A three story red-brick house covered in vines, it had a homely feel that really warmed up to me right from the start. The interior was an interesting mix of wooden floor and ceiling, fresh drywall, and artsy furnishings that actually felt more like a Thai beach bungalow from the inside, which might've been more just an effect of the heavy rain. The biggest change from my current habitat is the addition of roommates - one hip human and three furry little, fanged beasties (sorry to disappoint any tarantula fans, but I meant cats). As for the human, he seems like quite the cool cat himself (as any friend of Heather's invariably is) - a publisher by day, a chef by night. I could see this working out veeeerry well indeed. It made me wonder, however, what skill do I have to offer when it comes to communal living? I can write cover letters? Fix your computer? Offer free lectures on the threat of neoliberal globalization?