moving to Gyungsan

The little piece of Korea I've considered home for most of the last five years has finally become too expensive for us to stay in any longer, so we made the decision to move south next month, close to Daegu, where I originally lived when I arrived in 2005.

We found a cozy, little two-story flat on the edge of a little university town, that was it's own little country once upon a time, before being absorbed by the neighboring kingdom. Just around the corner and down the road from our house are the ancient royal tombs, sitting on a grassy hill, overlooking rice fields and the foothills of Palgongsan.

My high school friend lives a couple of towns over with her husband so we're very happy to be close enough to see them more often. And a ten minute bus ride into Daegu brings me back to where I lived from a year and a half, and my old manager already offered me a job at her new school and said she'd also help get as lots of private students in the meantime. She was the best manager I've had at any school I've worked at in Korea so it will be nice to connect with her again.

Mostly, we're happy to get out of the city and to be going somewhere more authentically Korea. We were living in what is known as the "Korean Beverly Hills" but after the time I spent there, i think that might say as much about the people's attitudes than the actual place. There is a certain amount of comfort we'll be giving up, but we'll be gaining something else.

I'm excited for October, when the rice fields will be a golden blaze, to bring Fina for walks through them.