Since I have become a runner, I have run in every country we have visited. I have found it is a very efficient way to explore a new area. Running gives you the feel of being a local, while also affording you an opportunity to see much of the terrain in a short amount of time. While living in Korea and in Yeonam (our neighborhood) in particular, I have run the same streets many, many times and therefore have been able to get to know the area on a more personal level.
Yeonam-dong has been with me on beautiful runs in fantastic weather when I am elated and having the run of my life. Yeonam-dong has been with me in the winter when I drag myself out to run, and 10 minutes feels like an eternity as I am craping up and trying to remember why I would ever do a crazy thing like run. Where my students run after me yelling “Saera teacha” and adjuma’s (old women) look at me like I am completely insane and laugh when I pass them multiple times during a run. Through thick and thin in my running career almost all of these moments have taken place running up and down through the grid of my neighborhood. So, I thought it was high time that Yeonam-dong got a little blog action. Here is the neighborhood I live, work and run in. (Usually I play down town 😉
As you can tell people’s front doors/gates are my favorite and usually what I look at on my runs.