17.157 Haemul Ramyeon – The First (Official) Meal Back in Town

Cycle 17 – Item 157

Post 6,001

11 (Thu) May 2026

Haemul Ramyeon – The First (Official) Meal Back in Town

2.5

at Pocha for Four

-Oksu, Seongdong, Seoul, Republic of Korea-

with the Family

Moving Day! After 11 years, we’re back in our Oksu apartment.

This is the 3rd time that I have moved into this place: 1) first in 1998, with my parents, when the complex was brand new; 2) then in 2008, with W and DJ (IZ not yet born); 3) and now, with W and IZ (DJ no longer has a room, and anyway lives mostly in California).

It is the 29th dwelling that I’ve called home, fully intended to be the final.

1972-1976: House, Naesu, Seoul, Korea
1976: Apartment (1-BR), Santa Clara, CA, USA
1976: Apartment (2-BR), Santa Clara, CA, USA
1977-1979: Townhouse, Santa Clara, CA, USA
1980-1985: House, 18600 Aspesi Drive, Saratoga, CA, USA
1985: House, Bulgwang, Seoul, Korea
1985-1987: Apartment, Misung, Sinsa, Seoul, Korea
1987-1988: Apartment, Hyundai, Ogeum, Seoul, Korea
1989-1991: Apartment, Hyundai, Ogeum, Seoul, Korea
1991-1992: Dorm, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
1992: Apartment, Areum, Bundang, Seongnam, Korea
1993: Room, Alexandria, VA, USA
1994 Apartment, Clayton Road, Concord, CA, USA
1995: Apartment, Cheshire Drive, Concord, CA, USA
1996: Apartment, Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA, USA
1997: Apartment, 2218 Haste Street, Berkeley, CA, USA
1998: Apartment, Gateview, Albany, CA, USA
1998: Apartment, Joongang Heights, Oksu, Seoul, Korea
1999: House, Cheongdam 2-2, Seoul, Korea
1999-2000: Apartment, Chadwick, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2000-2002: Apartment, Hoover Street, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2003-2006: Apartment, Bundang, Seoul, Korea
2006-2008: Apartment, Nonhyeon, Seoul, Korea
2008-2014: Apartment, Joongang Heights, Oksu, Seoul, Korea
2014: Apartment, One Adriatico Place (29-J), Ermita, Manila, Philippines (see generally 5.008 Chicken Pork Adobo)
2014: Apartment, One Adriatico Place (30-o), Ermita, Manila, Philippines (see generally 5.054 Filipino Spaghetti)
2015-2016: Apartment, 1818 MH Del Pilar Street, Malate, Manila, Philippines (see generally 6.176 Ricotta Cheese and Roasted Garlic Dear Darla Pizza)
2016-2018: Apartment, One Serendra, BGC, Taguig, Philippines (see generally 7.180 General Tso’s Chicken)
2018-2020: House, 1881 Sineguelas Street, Dasmariñas Village, Makati, Philippines (see generally 10.052 Combination Pizza)
2020-2026: Apartment, Wirye The Hill, Seongnam, Korea (see generally 11.166 Combination Pizza)
2026-death: Apartment, Oksu (formerly Joongang) Heights, Oksu, Seoul, Korea

By odd coincidence, I just realized that the 4 places for which I remember the street addresses (18600 Aspesi, 2218 Haste, 1818 MH Del Pilar, 1881 Sineguelas) all include “18.”

Other than the living room, the rest of the apartment was a disaster.

Last night, I asked W how long she expected the move would take. “Pretty quick,” she replied, “there’s not that much stuff.”

In Korea, professional moving services typically work as follows: everything is packed up at the old place in the morning, transported to the new place by midday, then unpacked and restored back the way it was by the end of the afternoon, such that the new place is ready to go within a single working day, with very little involvement of the residents.

That’s not how it happened. By 21:30, the “not that much stuff” had been unpacked but only about halfway restored. With no end in sight, we dismissed the movers and called it quits. They said that it had been the longest move in their experience, never before finishing after 19:00, and never leaving the place unrestored.

Admittedly, I should’ve dumped my camping gear.

The problem was fourfold.

For starters, W is a hoarder: paintings (both by her, by others) that she’ll never hang, rugs that she’ll never roll out, books that she’ll never read, vases and lamps and teacups that she’ll never use, clothes that she’ll never wear, and (strangely) Barbie dolls that she’ll never display. Also for the boys’ stuff – for the past year, once DJ went off to college, I’ve been urging her to go through their books and papers and drawings that have been accumulating since daycare to keep the important items (1%) and discard the rest (99%), but always “I’ll get around to it” – and no, she refused to let me do it.

Up to now, we’ve moved into progressively bigger homes (perhaps not from Dasma to Wirye, but we hadn’t lived in Dasma long enough to accumulate too much stuff, 6 months under pandemic lockdown, and the boys were still young), so increasing volume was never a problem. However, Oksu is about 2/3 the size of Wirye.

Second, in negotiating with the moving company, W had vastly underestimated our stuff, likely to save costs (in fact, when she’d told me the quoted fee, it was suspiciously low), claiming that we’d be discarding “a lot of it” before the move. Indeed, we did leave behind a lot, such as the refrigerators, washer and dryer, dish washer, display shelves, sofa, etc., but still had lots and lots more. They’d arrived with just 4 movers and 1 truck but eventually called in 3 additional movers and 2 additional trucks (ultimately, the fee was doubled) – if they’d started with the right number, we would’ve ended much earlier, though restoration would’ve been impossible nevertheless.

Third, W lacks spatial perception. In Wirye, her bedroom had originally been 2 bedrooms merged into 1, allowing her the liberty to fill it with various large pieces of furniture, which she insisted would fit into her new bedroom in Oksu. When it was clear that certain items – a pair of large book shelves and a leather armchair – wouldn’t fit, W refused to let them go (see hoarder, supra) and asked the movers to take them to her parents’ place across the river, taking them an additional hour and a half.

And fourth, W refuses to sacrifice space for storage in her bedroom at the expense of comfort and decor. So, for example, the Barbies occupy a full cupboard in the kitchen, next to the pots and pans. By contrast, my room is essentially a closet for all my shit, self-contained.

W also has a weird obsession with fabrics, like blankets and throws and cushions.

I should point out that most of my stuff had already been moved over the past few weeks, by myself, so I spent most of the time organizing the kitchen and family room.