Smile!

For Christmas, Maxine's Uncle Younghwan bought her the latest thing in baby stuff: a blanket with a stuffed animal sewn on as part of the blanket. This one is particularly cute, and I caught Maxine in a good mood, so she smiled for me a few times.

I decided to throw in a picture with our living room as a back drop, to give you some idea of how much time we spend cleaning now that Maxine is here. On the left is the entertainment center, behind Maxine is the verandah, complete with my "garden", and out of sight on the right is the sofa.
And while I was at it, I took a couple of pictures out the window of the verandah. The first is the view to the right, roughly south-east, and the other picture is to the left. The road that continues up the mountain is the same as the main road in the other picture. We do command quite a view from the 19th floor in a 25 story building.
As you can see, we are surrounded by container yards. This makes for a lot of noise and pollution, but someday they will be replaced by other apartment buildings, so we won't have to look at those pesky trees anymore.
In this picture , the collection of buildings in the background is the Tongmyung Institute of Technology campus. I kid you not, their initials, which can be found on their front gates and posters, are T.I.T. Twice a year they have a T.I.T. festival. Somehow I doubt it lives up to the promise of its name.

The buildings in the right part of the background, surrounded by trees, are a Buddhist temple. It's a pretty nice little set up.

It's really a beautiful area to live in. Our only problem is that there is a cement yard on the other side of the complex, and a paint factory beyond that. In one day we get enough air pollution that leaving the windows open leaves a layer of grime on everything. Seriously, you can drag your finger across the floor and come up with black stuff. Nasty. And we're breathing that stuff. The best thing about winter here is that we keep the windows closed.

That's all for now. I need to go get a shower while the opportunity presents itself.

Peace,

Rob