View from the Living Room

The title of this blog comes mostly from the idea that we each have our own perception of, and perspective on, reality. Whether reality exists independently of the observer or not, each of us clearly perceives it differently - based on our experiences, cultural values, expectations, and so on. So the title View from Gangwon-do (the name of the province in which we are living and teaching) is based on the fact that my ramblings might be of interest because I'm seeing different things day-in and day-out than those of you on the other side of the world, and also because my perception of the world from here will be different than it was when I was in the US, and different from yours. More different, I would guess, than the people you encounter on a daily basis, since their experiences are more closely paralleling yours.

But I also picked it this morning because of how striking the view from our apartment is. I had to choke back the tears when I opened the blinds this morning. The entire south wall of our living room is glass, which should be great. Yet we're planning on covering it with a tapestry. Here's is the view out of our 15 x 8 foot living room window:


Koreans have an amazing ability to make thier residences look like penatentiaries.

The view from my office (that's right, my office... we have been blessed with a 3-bedroom apartment, so I have an office for the first time in my life!) is slightly better, though through a much smaller window.



I'll post soon about our arrival in Samcheok, our first night of dinner and drinking with our bosses and co-workers, what we know about our school, and our day out yesterday with a co-worker. But for now the score is +1 for a nice 3-bedroom apartment, and -1 for a view of prison walls.