First December Holiday Away from Home

I check the last post that I wrote in here, and I thank myself that I have actually put a couple of updates on what I have been doing in this supposedly perkiest month of the year. It’s so ironic to think that it’s that time of the year in the office when the workload is not that many-- for anyone to do some extra things, yet I have never really mustered myself in filling this blog with updates. I mean, come on! It is December. It’s the time of the year when people get a bit lax with the serious stuffs that have pre-occupied them the whole year long-- and in turn get rowdy with all the merry-making activities of the season.

It would of course be a lot better if I were back home, for I’ll sure be getting more kicks to get oh-so jolly for the holidays. I sure missed home and my family whom I prepare the gift-giving practice with, as well as my friends whom I pig out and practically share the lovely season with. But hey, stop the longing. Fact of the matter is, I am in another place, and I ought to do the merry-making in my own independently creative way.

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-Gu / -Dong

This is currently the greatest artwork that is enticing both my eyes and mind, as I do the search for the great EXPAT abode. A few more days of looking at this, and I'll have my fresh set of Korean tongue twisters on que. I am anyway amazed at how I am learning so much about the city and the country with all these search. That blue strip in the drawing is the famous HAN River by the way.

Seoul, aside from being the capital city of South Korea, is also considered as a “special city” (Teukbyeolsi) that is divided into wards or districts called –gu’s. GU’s are pretty much similar to New York or London’s boroughs. These GU’s are then divided into neighborhoods or city districts called -dong's (not on map, though).

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My $10,000 Bling

It was a pretty straightforward question that my Korean colleague had in regard to the housing arrangements, in his efforts to recommend the best place where we can stay during our work stint in Seoul. As I may have already mentioned, the company we are to work for will not be answerable for our rent expenses, but will be guiding us in finding the house we will spend the rent expense on.

Ji Hyun says:
by the way, if the leaser asks $10,000 for downpayment, can you do that?
Ji Hyun says:
monthly payment will be around $50 though
Ji Hyun says:
i mean 500
Ella says:
an outright payment of $10,000? I don't think so. I'm sorry.
Ella says:
That's too big for us. Is that DP for one year?
Ji Hyun says:
until you leave
Ella says:
Yeah, so that's for one year, right?
Ji Hyun says:
right
Ji Hyun says:
1 or 2 year depending on how long you wanna stay
Ella says:
Is the $10,000 DP non-refundable?
Ella says:
To the lessor, I mean.
Ji Hyun says:
of course refundable when you leave there
Ella says:
Is that how it goes for all apartments there?

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On Motels

Anyone who has been religiously reading my blog may have known about the painstaking process that I and my soon-to-be-colleague are going through in ironing out our working stint outside the country.

Part of the long-agreed arrangements is our shouldering of the rent expense during our stay in Seoul, though of course the choice of the house will initially be on our employer, since they know the place more than we’ll ever do.

Ella says:
Hello Mr. Kim, are you busy?
Ji Hyun says:
A bit but it's ok
Ji Hyun says:
Go ahead
Ella says:
I think Anj will be logging on in a while, and I just thought we could all talk in here about the arrangements.
Ella says:
We got your email by the way
Ella says:
Re: the email, we are perfectly fine with the proposed setup. I just would like to confirm though if HR would be able to secure the place as soon as we arrive there? That's what's just important to us.
Ella says:
I'm surprised that there are renting schemes there that can do away with downpayments.
Ji Hyun says:
They found a place but it's a bit far from our office
Ji Hyun says:
So we plan to find a place for you near office
Ji Hyun says:
What do you think?
Ji Hyun says:
Do you wanna stick with the one HR found?
Ella says:
Re: the place that they initially found, is it not at least near a subway that we could easily have access to? it's ok that the place is far in distance for as long as the subway could take us straight to the office from that place...

***Anj has been added to the conversation***

Ji Hyun says:
It does
Ji Hyun says:
There is subway station around there
Ji Hyun says:
If you want, you can stay there a couple week and then find the one while staying there
Ji Hyun says:
It's more like motel. so, you can leave there whenever you want
Ella says:
I see. Btw, I think Anj is online now.
Ella says:
May we ask where the exact address of the motel is? In what district maybe?
Ji Hyun says:
Dong Dae moon station

In a separate IM window, I got a seemingly alarmed question.

Anj says: A motel?
Ella says: wahahahaha, sssshhh
Ella says: ano ka ba, sa pinas lang panget ang notion ng motel
Ella says: wahahahahaha, futch anj, motel! Yihaa!

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