Saturday, May 24, 2008

Our Korean House: Part 3

Are you ready for the rest of the tour?
O.k, we'll start with the guest room. If you were to come visit, this is where you would stay. It is better than our guest room back in the States. Anyhow, we were fortunate enough to have our Korean home come mostly furnished.
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Let's move on to the living room shall we?
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Here is the inside view of "Chicane's Window"...and now you know precisely why we call it that. Apparently her walk today was not long enough. She is longing for all the disgusting and putrific (like someone died in a pile of dung) pockets of stinky smells that Korea has to offer.
Let's just turn around and see the rest.
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Isn't it lovely? I especially like the chandelier and the fireplace. Neither of us have ever lived in such a nice place before. Oh...you noticed the big screen TV huh? Yes, that is very ironic.
Those who know us, know that we do not watch television. So it was very surprising to see this house furnished with not just one huge flat screen TV but a small one in the guest room too. The TV is also hooked up to cable programing. So we are fortunate enough to get about 80 channels of Korean programming. HA! It sucks just as bad as American programming; but is a little more humorous because we can't understand it.
For some reason Koreans seem to love the melodramatic style of "acting" and they revel in dressing in pastel colored uniforms. It's like Pee Wee's playhouse on every channel.

As a side note, this is a funny story about the TV. When we agreed to rent the house we were told that it came with everything we saw and to let them know if we wanted anything removed. Andy, very sarcastically said, "Oh the Big TV has got to go...there's NO WAY we can watch THAT!" Then he laughed and our landlord and realty agent sort of half heartedly laughed too.
Later that night I recalled something I had read in a Korean culture book my sister gave us for Christmas. The book said that Koreans do not practice nor understand sarcasm. I relayed this information to Andy and told him that if he wanted the tv he would have to call and let them know he was only kidding. So he did, and it was a good thing because they were getting ready to remove the TV. They must have been so confused. Stupid Americans!

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We have a total of 5 of these beautiful glass room dividers. They are lovely and now it's easy to keep Chicane out of the kitchen.
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This kitchen has beautiful furnishings and high ceilings which almost make up for the fact that it has NO oven and no diswasher. I am used to living without a diswasher...but no oven?!? This will be a challenge. Also, we have the fanciest pink refridgerator you could ever imagine.

And for the rest of the home you will have to rely on my description. There is very dark wood thoughout the home which has made photographing almost impossible. We have a beautiful hallway with a giant mirror and grandfather clock and stairs that lead to the basement. We have a master bedroom, which is unfurnished because we are still waiting for our household goods to arrive. Yes, you guessed it, we are staying in the guest room for now. We have another hallway off the master bedroom which has wall to wall, ceiling to floor closets in beautiful carved wood. And finally we have the office which is where I spend a lot of time on the computer.

Hopefully we didn't bore your socks off! Lot's of blogging to come...I can't keep up with all the things I want to share.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, That is quite a tour. I love Chicane's window and the kitchen is ornate. No oven? Is there a microwave or toaster oven or anything? how do you bake? Is there some sort of stove top?
This is all very interesting. That sarcasm thing rings true of all asians as I have to remember it with the Phillipino nurses I work with, but of course I didn't learn it until I'd been working with many for YEARS and couldn't figure out why they hated me...LOL....once I figured out the no sarcasm thing they all love me...LOL

zarina said...

Its not only in Korea, most of Asia don't take/understand sarcasm. So generally we do all that within my immediate family or those who have stayed overseas (read USA or Europe).

Crazy Pences said...

It's funny that you both mention the sarcasm/asian dichotomy. In retrospect it explains a lot!

Zarina, how did you learn sarcasm?

zarina said...

My dad took the whole family while he was doing his master's and doctorate from when I was born to 1983 - me 12 yrs old. A few years in M'sia but majority in USA/Canada. As it is I think in English. So when I speak my national language, Malay - its quite slow and use very simple language. and most of readings are from there or UK. I cannot read high level Malay - esp when they use fancy words. Most of the time, I need somebody to translate for me in order to picture the item talked about. I rmbr recently my sis-in-law asked me to comment about an advertisement in Malay. After looking at the first page - I passed back to her and told her I cannot do it.

Lace-lovin' Librarian ~ Diane said...

Sherry, I'm glad used Crazy Pences to contact me. Even though I bookmarked it, I totally forgot about this blog!

Your new home looks fascinating and lovely! Heat and humidity? Oh, dear! I'd be stuck inside with air conditioning and a fan blowing on me! I wilt when it's warm! I love the rounded window, the entry gate, and the decorative windows. No oven? Where would Dave cook our frozen dinners?

The Hussy Housewife said...

Ohhh, me like, me like! It is quite fancy. You can now become a "raw food" eater. And here I was thinking you would be living in a chicken coup with dirt floor....us crazy westerners!

Tatman said...

MY GOSH! your home is beauticious. And all those antiques. You two are definitely blessed and this is a nice welcome to this country after what you have gone through. Thanks for the guest tour and I enjoyed it! Will come visit again. Keep the guest room ready :)