It never ends

Just when things seem to be going really smoothly... Sometimes people can be so shallow.

Our lease is finished in February. For a year and a half, Sejin and I have been saving and planning to move in FEBRUARY. Our landlady has been harassing us with phone calls -- she wants us to move out.

Fine.

In Korea, it's standard practice for an apartment owner to pay for their tenants moving fees (ie truck) if they want them to move out early. This I know firsthand because I have several friends who OWN apartments and have asked their tenants to move out. They paid their tenants' moving fees (or at least offered to) and the tenants either moved out, or decided to stay until the end of the contract. My own boss who sits next to me at work told me this because she once did it herself, being an apartment owner.

Apparently, my landlady feels that this standard practice does not apply to her. She's cheap. And she has allowed her 87-year-old mother in law to live in a storage facility on our roof. Oh yeah, she's also a devoted Christian. And most importantly, she's very wealthy.

I'm confused. If she wants us out so bad, bad enough to keep calling us and asking when the hell we're getting out, why doesn't she just cough up the cash? It's accepted practice here and she definitely has the money. It's all very strange.

She also insulted us tonight. Sejin told her that we are looking for another place (which we are), and she said, "You want a place you can't have." In other words, "You don't have much money, so just settle for a crap place and get out of my building." I'm mostly upset by this comment. It really shows how shallow and cold she is.

This is also all very bothersome because Sejin and I have been great tenants. We're not noisy or destructive. We're very clean -- the cockroaches that were here when we first moved in are long gone. We did not complain at all when we moved into a very dirty place. We also didn't complain about the kitchen cupboard doors that were falling off, or the medicine cabinet that is falling down, or the yellowing wallpaper, or the gross woodwork.

Anyway, it's very upsetting that people who I once thought were decent people are actually pretty low. I just want to be done with them.

The Month of September

It's certainly been a long time since I last updated this blog. That's because of many reasons ranging from laziness to the sad fact that nobody reads it. Nonetheless, here's a summary of what I've been up to.

I went home to visit my family in Canada from Sept. 17 to Oct. 3rd. It was a short but relaxing trip consisting of lots of eating, sleeping, and shopping. With the Canadian dollar basically at par with the U.S. dollar, there was no way my mom and I could resist crossing the border....four times. But I behaved myself and bought mostly things I needed --- not even one ball of yarn! I did buy three pounds of yarn back in Canada though...but three big balls isn't bad compared with the three boxes I bought last year....


Here are some random pictures from the trip:
My friend Tracey's little girl, Ella. She was pretty thrilled with the hat I brought her!

I was reunited with Boyd, the poodle I bought in Korea a few years back. I don't think he remembered me. But he looks really smart in his new Burberry outfit.Me and Tom, my eight-year-old nephew.

Me and my grandma, who turned 90 in August.
Me and my best friends from elementary school, Deanna and Nadia. I found these old friends through facebook. It was great catching up with them after about 15 years! Thanks facebook!

So those are some highlights.

So now I'm back to work, slaving away on the elementary books. I'm trying to pick up the pace a little bit so I can finish the whole series before my contract is done. The office is very quiet these days, but the atmosphere is good and I'm very productive lately.

In my knitting life, something very exciting happened....I'm finally on Ravelry! I was on the waiting list for over two months and I thought I'd never get on, but one magical day I got my invitation...and it happened to be when I was on vacation, so it couldn't have been better timing. I was able to waste several hours getting my "notebook" all ready without feeling guilty. Not much else is new in my knitting life. I'm really trying to discipline myself to finish projects that have been sitting around for months, or even years! Last night I got out the hideous purple sweater....one more sleeve left to go before it's out of my sight and in my closet!

I did start one more project, which I really shouldn't have done, but I was home and just bought three pounds of soft yarn perfect for a cozy afghan. I'm making up the pattern myself, so it could be trouble, so we'll see how it goes. I call it the Cable and Trellis Afghan.

I'm knitting it in panels so I don't go nuts carrying around a huge blanket. I hope this one works out. I've brought my other afghan, the "knit granny square afghan" to work because I figure if it's there, then I'll knit it, and sooner or later it'll get done.

So that's where we're at. I had lunch today at "Santorini" in Itaewon for my friend, Shelley's, birthday. In the past it wasn't too bad, but today the only decent Greek restaurant in Seoul didn't have pita bread! So disappointing! Afterwards we went to my favorite bookstore and I traded in my old books and picked out some new ones. After an hour shopping at a market in Itaewon, I was ready to go home and get into my Hello Kitty PJs. Now I'm off to make some more progress on that hideous purple sweater!