The local hood

Our district of Jungnang-gu (pronounced Chungnang-gu) is about a 30 minute subway ride from the centre of Seoul. Only five minutes walk from our front door there is a hill that is criss-crossed with walking tracks and has excerise equipment at various track junctions. The equipment is frequently occupied by senior Seoulites, most decked out in parachute trackies and huge sun visors. Being spring, the hill is speckled with blossoms and is a beautiful escape from the city streets. There are also these mysterious bunker-like constructions on the hill's ridges- Trent likes to think that they are military observation points, I think they are probably just drains!

Our local hill

Spring-time pear tree blossoms

Bonsai nursery building in our neighbourhood

Our school (REI American Language Institute) is in the same district in which we live. It takes about 10-15 mins by bus. This next photos is taken just down from our school as our bus (the 2216) passes by.

Jungnang-gu and the 2216

The area our school is in has more restaurants than where we live so we often have a bite to eat around here after work, which is usually about 9.30pm. The street food scene is alive and well in Seoul, despite many other Asian cities trying to "clean-up" their streets and abolish this wonderful institution.

Street food vendors in Jungnang-gu

And finally, here is a pic of our district mascot. Not sure what her name is, but she is everywhere you turn in Jungnang-gu and she definitely typifies Korean love of all that is cutsie.

Jungnang-gu girl