Life Update

About two weeks ago, we were told that our apartment was being put on the market. Due to some change in the law, the owner of our flat had to sign something for us, as foreigners, to continue living there. Unfortunately the owner lives in Japan and so was unavailable. We didn't want to hand over a set of keys and risk our stuff walking off, so we had to endure people looking round our apartment when we just wanted to kick-back and relax.
This went on for three days, with visits everyday. A week ago on Tuesday we were told that we would have to move out the next day because the new tenants wanted to wallpaper. We were not happy about how we were being messed around and felt helpless and undervalued. It kind of sucked. Plus we had no idea where we were being moved to, or what the new apartment would be like. The only upside to the move was that I got Wednesday morning off work to be there for the move. Fortunately the movers were great. Really respectful of our stuff and quick. Our new place is only a couple of blocks away. The layout it almost a carbon copy of the old place. It was kinda filthy when we moved in. Courtney and I spent several hours scrubbing and cleaning before we started to feel good about the place.
We've had this past week off work. We were planning on going somewhere in Korea during our vacation time but we've just chilled out at home. Last weekend we took part in an art event that benefited the Korean Woman's Association. I donated a photo to be auctioned and Courtney did a live painting. It was a great night and we were honored to be a part of it.
We've managed to get the apartment the way we like it, and now we like it a little better than the old place. We know how to get the hot water working here, we don't have any English channels here so we don't watch TV. We've got ourselves an internet connection finally and hung some of our work on the walls.
I've finally started to take an active interest in bushcraft. I've been trying my hand at some simple wood carving. So far I've churned out several spoons, each one a little better than the last. I'll need to get a crooked knife if I want to carve out the bowls, but I'm not sure how I'll get my hands on one of them in Korea. As detailed in the last post, we went out, made a fire and cooked on it today. That was a lot of fun. I've read a great deal on many of these things, camp-craft, bushcraft and the like, but actually trying them out is a whole other ball game. It's a lot of fun and has a much steeper learning curve.
I've been reading the Zen Habits blog and one of the many suggestions for improving ones life is to wake up earlier. I'm naturally more of a morning person than a night owl so this has been easy for me. Even though it's our vacation I've been trying to get up at 6 a.m. with reasonable success. It's nice to be up while the day is still young, knowing that most people are still asleep. It gives me a chance to see the world wake up around me. I haven't been using the time very productively yet, but I will start setting myself tasks to do soon. Come April, the sun will be rising about the same time as I do, so I will take that opportunity to hopefully get out and take more wildlife photos. I've been kinda lax with it at the moment. During the work week, it's dark when we get up and the light begins to fade when we get home but the days are gradually getting longer and becoming better for me to take pictures.
We'll see how everything goes.