Bundang

I would have preferred to return to Daejeon, especially since Mad and Jeff were still there, but due to timing I ended up in Bundang, one of Seoul's wealthiest suburbs. It doesn't really feel like part of Seoul because of the mountains in between, but it was conveniently on the subway line, and the stream that runs through the city connects to the Han.

Unlike most foreign teachers, I didn't even have to have a brief stay at a love hotel before getting my apartment. Unfortunately, that was because my school was gradually transferring their teachers' housing to a cheaper neighborhood a couple subway stops away from the school, as opposed to a couple blocks away. This process started with me, so for my first month I was the only teacher from my school who lived apart from the others. I had been promised a huge fancy apartment at the assumption I would be at the former location, and it's a good thing I was honest when saying that it didn't really matter to a minimalist like me because instead I got one smaller than the one I had the year before. Here is what a typical English teacher's apartment looks like:

As you can see, it's essentially the same as the apartment I had the previous year when working for a different company in a different city. 

Because I read too much Andrew Sullivan, I can't help but provide the view from my window: 

During my first weekend there I got a bike and explored the suburb a bit. My favorite early find was a temple complex a few blocks from my apartment.

The vajra -- a weapon for destroying impurities and temptations -- was a huge part of the temple's iconography, leading me to believe that this temple was a part of the same Tien-ta Buddhist order as the complex Alanna and I saw in Guinsa. 

My other favorite building in Bundang is also a temple of sorts. 

The teddy bear castle is a part of a mall complex where I bought groceries and saw movies.