We just moved to Seoul

Gyeogbok Palace, Seoul, South Korea

So, it is true, we have moved to Seoul, South Korea. After months of juggling over the options, weeks of waiting over the paperwork and hours of tedious clean-up of the mountains of paraphernalia acquired over the 8 years in California and the this-is-my-home-so-i-need-to fill-it-up-stuff from 7 years in Bangalore, we have in fact, reached Seoul.

Our kind realtor had sent a taxi driver to pick us up from the airport. Armed only with English and whole lot of optimism,

• we exchanged Rs into Won and 
• managed to pick up a cellphone at the airport and stepped into the Land of the Morning Calm at midnight. 

Adeptly working through the drawings of Korean code for opening the door to our home, we also pushed our prevailing luck in Korean by pushing the buttons to the floor heater and awoke the machine into a comforting hum.

Roasted food available roadside

Now, three weeks in this land, the climate has been warm and pleasant, people have been helpful and smiley, we have been able to start a routine without being able to understand the language. But, the fact is, knowledge of Korean is imperative- What good is it to live in a country and not be able to interact with the people of that country? or look through the enormous amounts of gadgets in the stores that are are so shiny and geeky and not be able to understand what it does? or walk through the streets where vendors are presenting you with all kinds of aromatic and colorful refreshments but you dont know whether you are going to try an octopus sautee or an ox intestine?

I prefer to eat the stuff after educating my taste buds and stomach to what they are about to encounter! Here I go on the Korean Adventure :)