Well we have finally made it and we definitely feel like we are starting all over again! We are excited for this new adventure, but as those of you who have moved any where know, there is always an adjustment period. Moving internationally is just a bigger adjustment. Of course there are the usuals...
- finding the grocery store
- finding the furniture store
- figuring out how to get to these places...
- ...and then back to your house :-)
- deciding on how to decorate your new house
- living out of suit cases until your shipment of boxes arrive
- finding the grocery store- where we can read what the items are
- finding the furniture store- where we can find furniture that has a western feel to make us feel comfortable and "at home"
(Now of course we are not opposed to some unique furniture, after all, it can be quite fun. But in order to make it feel more homey to us we like to try and find more modern furniture. Everyone has their own style and for expats finding just enough of that style is important. In China we had IKEA... what a blessing in disguise!)
Those are just a few things to help you get an idea of how it's been since we have gotten here. We have been super blessed by the company we are now working for. When we got off the plane we were taken straight to our new 3 bedroom apartment. It was much more spacious than we were expecting! It was already furnished with a couch, chair, coffee table, bed, dresser, dining table and a few kitchen utensils to get us started. They even had a few groceries to welcome us since we didn't pack things like toilet paper. Oh yeah and how could I forget! The already had our home phone and internet hooked up for us!
The HR director has been so courteous of his time with us and has taken us walking around our neighborhood, down to the street of restaurants, to see our new school, and on a ride in his car to show us where some places are including the nearest mall. This was so helpful to see some places where we could purchase different items. We have already made it successfully, on our own, to the dentist and to COSTCO. Oh yes... you heard right! there is a COSTCO here and we were able to get a lot of things. It is very much like a COSTCO in America except a little more expensive; mainly because a lot of things have to be imported.
We are lucky to have just come from Shanghai where we had to use the different methods of transportation to find things, but it's a little harder here because neither one of us speak Korean. The most we can say is "hello" and "thank you". Yikes! We should get to work on that!
I will leave you today with some pictures of our new home and random pictures of our short time here.
- figuring out how to get to these places...and back to your house- with a different language all around and the option of the subway, busses, taxi or walking. The decision is quite hard. You see, we don't know how far anything is to know if it's walkable or not. We can't always read signs to figure out the bus routes, a taxi can be quite expensive especially if we don't know the distance or what the traffic is like. (Not to mention, we have to figure our how to tell the taxi driver where to go!) Now the subway is usually the easiest, but not always the most convenient. It is by far the cheapest, it will take you fairly close, but after you exit the subway (hopefully you have exited at the correct exit; there can be as many as 14 different exits at one stop) then you must get your bearings as to which way to turn. We get a lot of help from Google Maps and thank goodness the internet here is reliable!
- deciding how to decorate your house- it's the small things that matter. As hard as it is to find furniture it's just as hard to find the small things that go together like rugs, curtains, lamps, etc. And more than likely you will have to purchase each of these things at a different store.
- living out of suitcases until your shipment of boxes arrive- well any one who has done this understands. You don't want to buy everything new because your things are coming soon, but waiting is tough because you just want to get settled.
Those are just a few things to help you get an idea of how it's been since we have gotten here. We have been super blessed by the company we are now working for. When we got off the plane we were taken straight to our new 3 bedroom apartment. It was much more spacious than we were expecting! It was already furnished with a couch, chair, coffee table, bed, dresser, dining table and a few kitchen utensils to get us started. They even had a few groceries to welcome us since we didn't pack things like toilet paper. Oh yeah and how could I forget! The already had our home phone and internet hooked up for us!
The HR director has been so courteous of his time with us and has taken us walking around our neighborhood, down to the street of restaurants, to see our new school, and on a ride in his car to show us where some places are including the nearest mall. This was so helpful to see some places where we could purchase different items. We have already made it successfully, on our own, to the dentist and to COSTCO. Oh yes... you heard right! there is a COSTCO here and we were able to get a lot of things. It is very much like a COSTCO in America except a little more expensive; mainly because a lot of things have to be imported.
We are lucky to have just come from Shanghai where we had to use the different methods of transportation to find things, but it's a little harder here because neither one of us speak Korean. The most we can say is "hello" and "thank you". Yikes! We should get to work on that!
I will leave you today with some pictures of our new home and random pictures of our short time here.