About my hometown: Seongnam-si in South Korea
All about Korea
Hi, I’m Arielle Lim, a.k.a. Koreopatra. I’m glad to write my second post about my hometown, as Gerald Sturgill suggested.
*Quick Korean words for your understanding
- Si(ex: Seongnam-si) : City (local unit)
- Do(ex: Gyeonggi-do) : Biggest local unit like State
Where is my hometown?
I personally think my hometown is where I live right now, Seongnam-si, because I spent most of my life here.
Originally, I was born in Seoul. But I wouldn’t call it “hometown” since I’ve never lived there. I was literally just born in there, and I’ve actually lived in Gyeonggi-do for my entire life.
Within Gyeonggi-do, I moved to several cities when I grew up. When I was a baby, I lived in Suwon-si until when I turn into three. Then, I moved to Anyang-si and lived there for 5 years. And after then, when I was 8 years old, I moved to Seongnam-si, where I currently reside. I’ve been living in here for 17 years so far, so it’s the only place I can call “hometown”.
What is special about my hometown?
Seongnam is a big city. Yeah, you may imagine something like New York. But it’s not like that. In this city, you can see both giant buildings and nature. You live in a safe and peaceful town but get to busy Pangyo Techno Valley downtown within 10 minutes. Pangyo Techno Valley is where many IT companies are located, just like Silicon Valley. A lot of people think it’s in Seoul, but it’s in Seongnam.
Honestly, South Korea is well known for working overtime and night culture. But I think a lot of people in my town are big homebodies. At 6 pm, you’ll see apartment parking lots packed with cars. Even as a resident, it’s always interesting to see amazing work and life balance here unlike other cities.
Another special thing in my hometown is tons of apartments. Apartments are the most common housing in Korea, but I heard a lot of people from abroad think it’s interesting. Unlike apartments are housing for poor people in other countries, apartments are like a symbol of wealth here. The more wealthy you are, the more prestigious apartment you live in. Even there’s a show on highly expensive apartments here.
The best thing about my hometown is…
Scenery. You can enjoy colorful scenery that changes depending on the season.
There’s a small park in front of my apartment so you can chill. As you see in the picture, it’s filled with snow in the winter, and I used to make a snowman there when I was a kid. ☺
So this is all about my hometown. What do you think? Where is your hometown? What is special about your hometown? Tell me in the comments 😀
