HOME! (AKA: The Days Inn of Asan)

 We absolutely LOVE our little Korean house.  

Last time we lived here, we were stationed in Seoul.  Being one of the largest cities in the world, having a stand alone house was definitely NOT an option.  But this time, we are stationed about 50km south of Seoul near Pyeongtaek.

This is definitely considered the country side.  When you tell people you live near Pyeongtaek, most Koreans don't even know where that is.  This was nothing but rice fields and farm land until the Korean government gave this land to the US military about 15 years ago.  

The military installation we were stationed at last time we lived here, Yongsan, used to be in the country too -- many, many years ago -- after the Korean war.  Now it is prime real estate right in the center of Seoul.  The Korean government wanted the land back to turn into a park, kind of like Central Park in New York City.  So they moved the US military south to Pyeongtaek.  Back to the country.  

What is fascinating about it though, is Pyeongtaek is growing like crazy.  Samsung has already started moving factories here.  High rises are popping up all over.  I am guessing it won't be long before this military installation is prime real estate again.

It's fun for us to experience the countryside this time.  It will definitely be a change from our Seoul experience.  

Our house is located near Asan, another town people ask, "Where is that?"  What I love about this location is that we have city out the front entrance to our neighborhood and country out the back.  

It is absolutely PERFECT!

Here is a youtube link to our house.  I mostly recorded this for myself, so it's a little long and boring, but I thought it might be fun for everyone to see.  It is unbelievable to me that we have a four bedroom house here with a little bit of lawn outside.  We asked our realtor how the grass gets mowed.  He said they have a company that comes and mows it, but only four times a year!  He laughed.  He said Koreans don't understand why Americans plant grass.  He said Koreans would use the area to plant something useful...like corn.  They cannot understand why we would plant something just to cut it down every week.  I have to admit, they have a really good point!  Maybe we should start growing corn.

Toward the end of the video you can see a view from our upstairs balcony.  This gives you an idea of what the country side looks like.

These are the rice fields you drive through when you leave the neighborhood the back way.  You can see some of the city off in the distance in one of the pictures.

And here is the small country "town" that is out the front entrance to our neighborhood.  It's called Asan Techno Valley.  We love that we have a ton of restaurants and shopping within walking distance of our house.

We even found some of our favorite restaurants!  Yooganae is a Dak Galbi restaurant that we loved eating at in Seoul. We were thrilled to find it here!!!  I am not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that it is only a half mile walk from our new house.  

Dak Galbi is like a spicy chicken stir-fry with vegetables, rice, and Korean red pepper paste.  What we love about this specific restaurant is there is the option of adding cheese filled rice cakes to the dish.  It's amazing!  And almost all Korean restaurants come with all you can eat side dishes called banchan.  The banchan at Yooganae are some of my favorite. Mmmm....

After stuffing ourselves beyond belief, we went on to explore more of the town.  We found this fun little park on the outskirts with hiking trails.  

You find these little pagodas all around Korea, especially in hiking areas.  They are fun little rest stops where you can take a nap or have a little lunch.  My favorite part is that you take your shoes off before you enter them. 

The next night we headed back into the city with Emma for treats.  She was so excited to see her favorite pizza place!

We had one of these right by our house in Seoul. The kids would walk down to it all the time and get themselves some pizza.

We also went to dinner at a delicious steak place and grabbed some Korean bingsu for dessert.  Bingsu is like the Korean version of shave ice with fruit and ice cream.  (The traditional bingsu has sweet red beans on it.)  I completely forgot to take pictures.  I need to get better!

I think we are really going to love living here!  

Start making your reservations, because the Days Inn of Asan is ready for business.