Monday Monday!

Well Friday brought bad news followed by good news, and then more good news!

The day began ominously as Nate and I were playing Tekken in a back alley, yes we found a new machine where we live! While in the midst of a 5-0 streak on my part, the machine suddenly shut off at the sound of a large 'POP!' Looking down we noticed a puff of smoke rising up from what looked to be the wire powering the game, dangling in a wet gutter below. . .uh oh!

We stood up for fear of further explosions, both by the game and the shop owner, who we had to specifically request turn on the machines for us. . .which was of course met by laughter as we are both twice the size of this silly game! Peaking into the store that the games are adjacent to, we realized that the game must have blown a whole circuit as the inside of the once lit store was now dark! Oops. . .looks like my play was a bit too much for the game to handle! The sky had been growing darker and darker was we played so we took off to get ready for school and haven't been back since. . .it would be tragic if Tekken was out of commission permanently. . .tragic.

On top of the ominous beginning to the day, when I arrived at school Joseph informed me that the move I had believed would happen Friday would have to be postponed for another day. From what I was told, the previous resident had moved out and left the place in a disgusting mess! No worries, I assured Joseph that I could wait another day, so long as it meant moving into a clean place!

Friday classes were actually a breeze, in part because I wore jeans, which are ten times as comfortable as any pair of slacks, and in part due to the small class size. Remembering more kids in my last Friday's classes, I inquired as to where the present students' classmates were. They informed me that there was a school camping trip. . .well. . .leader trip. . . .or training trip. . .or something that I was reassured was 'not fun' after I commented on how exciting it would be to go camping with school. 'More like army. Boot camp,' they tole me, 'Not good!' Ohhhh okay. . .well maybe it's not that exciting. . .but hey, at least they don't have to come to Hogwan (meaning after school English academy)!!!

While in the midst of teaching my final class for the day, Anna Teacher relayed the information to me that Joseph was moving my things. I was a little confused at first as I thought she meant my school bag and books which are normally left in the Native room. Retiring to our little home away from home at the end of the class however I noticed that nothing of mine had been touched.

I went to the front office to ask Joseph what was up and he informed me that he had just moved my bed for me into my new place! Whoa, thanks a lot!! Joseph said that the workers had finished the cleaning and managed to put up new wallpaper too, oh how they pamper me! Nate and I waited around until 11pm for Joseph to finish up work. He then walked us up to Nate's place to grab my bags that I had packed before leaving for school.

We loaded up everything I had and headed downstairs Dootavill B, out the door, through a breezeway and up the elevator in Dootavill A to the fourth floor. In case your wondering, I'm currently in room A-412; take a right off the elevator and I should be the second door on your right! Feel free to stop in anytime!

Opening the door into my new 'permanent' residence I was a bit taken back at first. The new wallpaper that was put up has a crazy dark spackle pattern that reminds me of. . .well I'm not quite sure what. . .but not a home's interior! Furthermore, this wallpaper is literally everywhere except for the bathroom; floor to ceiling and even across the ceiling. . .to give it a really 'complete' feel, ha!

My Entrance and Kitchen

I am on the opposite side of the building from Nate's room so whereas he faces the street with flashing lights and crazy motorcycles, I have a slightly more peaceful view of a parkway between two other residential buildings. . .Parkview as Nate described it!

Closet and the Stairs to my Mezzanine

My Bed!

The Mezzanine (Where my bed should be, traditionally)

The only problem with this view is that I cannot see it! The windows in my apartment are fully covered in a bright blue contact paper, clearly put up by the previous resident to block the light. . .while it sounds nice in concept. . . when your 'curtains' are literally glued to the window, there's not much variation in what you see throughout the course of the day! I can open the small side windows to peak out but by no means do they offer a nice view.

The Blue Room

I will admit, the blue is rather nice in the morning as the room just turns an interesting shade of blue rather than being scorching hot from a direct sunlight hit. I just wish that I had the option of removing the shade once I was up and moving about!

Perhaps someday soon I will rip it off and try to put up some sort of less static shading. A few issues with doing so. . .1) The blue paper has a disgusting adhesive that absolutely refuses to come off with the paper itself 2) to fully remove it will take at least a weekend's worth of razor blade working, which I'm not sure if I'm willing to dedicate just yet 3) we spent hours yesterday at Lotte (Wal-) Mart and did not see anything in the way of drapes/curtains/blinds 4) they did have a fantastic array of brightly colored contact paper to cover your windows 5) some even have fancy patterns!

Desk and Television Courtesy of DYB!

After moving my stuff in Friday night there was no point to try and unpack anything as I had no hangers, nor energy, to put away my clothes with! So instead we retired to Joseph's apartment to celebrate moving in! Oops. . . I wonder how long it will take me to realize that committing to a weekend night with a Seoulite is committing until at least sunrise the next morning!

I finally made it out of Josephs apartment (in building B) around 7:00am to get some sleep. The sleep was short lived however as Joseph showed up at 11:00am, as promised. With him he brought two delivery men, a washing machine, counter top two-burner gas stove, and a refrigerator! I pretended to be awake while they installed everything and quickly fell back into bed the moment they left. . .which could not have been more than 20 min after they first arrived!

My Bathroom, Shower, and Washing Machine (bottom right corner)

The swiftness with which things are accomplished here is fascinating. Perhaps the best example is the large grocery store that opened up in the basement of Lotte Department store within a week of us arriving. Only slightly less impressive is the small shop downstairs Dootavill that was gutted entirely when we arrived on Tuesday yet up and running as a beauty products store by Saturday morning. . .of course they still had a worker installing light fixtures but the shop was open and running for sure!

Joseph hasn't yet taken the time to help explain the washing machines to us so we're entering Week 3 without having done laundry. . .This isn't a huge problem in terms of outerwear but. . .well. . .you know the rest!