Moved
The move went well on Saturday. I think it helped that through her job as a real estate agent my wife knows the movers we used. We've had some bad experiences with movers in the past, but these guys were top-notch. We also got a lady to come in and clean the new place for us after the move was over. And we didn't need to worry too much about cleaning the old place as thorougly as we would have. The owners told us not to expend too much effort as everything inside will be ripped out and reworked.
There were a couple of hiccups. We had to spend more money than we anticipated in a couple of cases. For example, I had very much wanted to move all of the boxed stuff and loose items the day before the movers came in order to reduce the chances of them needing to make a second trip, but that didn't happen thanks to the icy conditions Friday and the insistence of my wife and brother-in-law. So they did have to make two trips and we had to pay a bit extra for the second. In the end, it wouldn't have mattered anyway. They had to use a small truck because the street (alley is probably closer to the mark) we've moved to is too narrow for one of their bigger trucks. Even had we moved the stuff I'd wanted to on Friday, the movers would still have needed a second trip.
I've gone two whole days without my computer. I boxed up most of the peripherals, cords and cables on Thursday night, anticipating that I would be moving it all on Friday. As a consequence, I was utterly bored sitting around the house Friday and spend much of the afternoon with a book in a couple of coffee shops. On Saturday, I decided to save setting up the computer for last, else I'd not be motivated to do anything else. But my sister-in-law and her husband came over last night so we could all go out to dinner. Afterward, we found ourselves back at the house drinking and, as Koreans do when they drink, eating more. So most of what I'd planned to accomplish in the afternoon went unfinished. After a few hours of hangover recovery, I got back in the late afternoon to finishing everything on my todo list. So now the comp is up and running.
I wasn't sure how I'd feel about the new place, having only seen it once just before the previous tenants moved out. I thought there was a lot about it to like and was looking forward to moving in, but I was certain it would take a while to adjust to the somewhat smaller dimensions and the apparent age of the place. I'm happy to say, though, that there has been a bit of work done since that first time I saw it, making it look much better than it did before (the new wallpaper is really pleasant). The place really isn't that much smaller than the old place. Aside from the kitchen (we had a very big kitchen in the old house) it's really not noticeable. We actually have more storage space now than before (and built-in closets, a rarity in Korea outside of high-rise apartments). The layout of the place is much more convenient. And it's warmer by far. The previous house, most likely because of its age coupled with some ill-planned extensions, was a beast to keep warm. The living room, despite it's size, was the warmest room in the house and we still often wore sweaters and long underwear.
Yeah, I really like the new place and look forward to staying here for a while. The old place is already a distant memory. It seems unimanginable that we spent four years there.