Changes

Bulamsam in Her Fall Colors

Whoa! Stepping outside this morning I was greeted by a blast of cold air, the likes of which I had almost managed to forget about living in Louisiana for the past four years!

While this past weekend I played a soccer game in shorts and short sleeves, today I piled on a hooded sweat shirt and fleece over a long sleeve shirt before making the short trek to the post office down the street. Unless global warming brings a welcome heat wave through the area it seems like winter has arrived at last, in fact, the first snow fall is predicted for tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I figure as long as it's cold out, we might as well have snow. . .especially when I live a mere two minute walk from work!

To further demonstrate just how quickly the cold set in take a look at the picture below that I took out my window just yesterday. Waking up this morning I was surprised to see not single leaf remaining on what was, only yesterday, a brilliantly beautiful yellow tree! Alas, at least the devastation was being thoroughly enjoyed as I noticed a small boy kicking her fallen leaves into a small pile at the bottom of a slide to provide an all natural landing pad!

Wait, 'how is it,' you might ask, 'that you are able to see out your windows? Aren't they covered in hideous blue contact paper?' Well not anymore! I took a couple hours this past weekend to remove this eyesore from the bottom row of windows in my room which not only brightened the place but opened up a much larger and picturesque view than the one I had peeking out my thin sliding side windows!

While the majority of windows in Junggye, if not in Seoul, look out only to another high rise building with a not-so-distant neighbor staring back, I am lucky to have a bit more to look at. Luckily, out my window is a long boulevard that runs between two apartment buildings, neither of which obscures my distant view of a beautiful mountain with real live sky above it!

Now you must surely be asking yourself, 'well, if the view's so great, why didn't you ever get around to taking off the blue crap earlier?' Well if you'll remember, I used to sleep directly under these large picture windows and, as ugly as the contact paper was, it allowed me to sleep in a bit past sunrise each morning without being blinded in bed!

'Well why don't you sleep there anymore? You move in to the bathroom or something?' No silly, I finally moved my bed, with Nate's help (thanks), up to my loft, or 'bedroom.' While I was apprehensive about the move at first, I have grown quite accustomed to it already for a number of reasons.

First of all, now that winter has set in, my room is far from cozy at all times. However, as we all know, or at least were once aware of, heat rises, thus making my loft a much warmer place then my window side sleep station. Additionally, in my new bedroom I have two gentile incandescent lights next to my bed that are manipulable from both up- and down-stairs! This is good news for my reading in bed at night habit that had dwindled under a high florescent light that required leaving bed to turn off!

The low, low, ceiling on the loft isn't great but really why do you need to stand up in your bedroom anyways? I have more than enough head room to sit on my bed at least. . .so long as I don't bounce! I've whacked my dome against the bottom of the neighbors floor a couple of times already but I'm sure I'll grow out of it. . .hopefully! The only other issue is the steep and narrow staircase that I must tackle going to and fro my new bedroom! Luckily, I am not one that usually wakes up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night as I don't trust myself handling the stairs in the daytime, let alone while I'm sleepy in the dark!

'Okay, okay, so you moved, big deal, now you have a big open room downstairs that's just as depressing as it was before except now you don't even have a bed to lie on.' Ah ha, now this is where you are wrong you Negative Nancy you! All these minor changes in my living arrangements were not coincidental but part of a well calculated grand scheme known as. . .getting a couch! Though I had thought about it since moving in, only last week did I actually take the big step and buy one for myself! Not sure why it took this long, might be commitment issues. . .I have had very tragic partings with every couch that I have ever bought or had given to me at this point!

Anyways, after continued inquiry as to how and where I go about getting one, I was consistently directed to a fantastic internet shopping haven known, electronically, as Gmarket.co.kr. From here I was able to select for myself a wonderful little seating apparatus that Cleo graciously ordered for me using her Gmarket account. I even gave her a small commission for helping me with the order! The delivery man was also happy to accept cash as he arrived only three days later at my door ready to drop off, set up and haul out the trash from my new, beautiful, couch!

I have wasted no time breaking it in and have already watched a couple partial movies on it while examining the prime location. Furthermore, I have tested it's sleepability by conking out for a pair of half hour naps on both Monday and Tuesday before heading off to school. Never have I felt so refreshed! I've yet to fold it out flat and really take it for a whirl but, why would I when I have a fantastic single bed upstairs that I always manage to partially roll out of! Oh yeah. . .maybe I will try sleeping on the new furniture some night!

Alas, my room is finally 'coming together' and is almost acceptable for actual living. I still need some sort of coffee table to kick my feet up on, eat off of (if I ever were to cook for myself, and prop up guitar books so I stop straining my neck looking at the floor. Who knows, I'll keep my eye out, worst comes to worse there's always Gmarket!

Oh yeah, I also managed to snag a little additional piece of furniture for my room from the hallway. 'Oh great, so now you're in to stealing other peoples' things, fantastic, just the way to show the world how gracious American's are.' Ugh, no, will you let me finish! A few weeks ago a family down the hall moved out, at first all their stuff was moved in to the hallway where it stayed for a day or two before the magic moving fairy came and collected it all. Since that day there have remained three articles of the move that seem to be either forgotten or discarded: a long plate of glass, a wooden board of equal size, and a small cabinet.

Clearly, I have been eyeing the cabinet ever since moving day and have not yet noticed it recognized by anyone else. After discussing the mater, briefly, with Nate yesterday, I decided to try out Korean squatter's rights. On my way back home I dragged my finger over the top of the cabinet simply inspecting it's finish. What I was greeted with was a handful of dust and grime! That sealed the deal for me! If no one cared enough to clean up the poor little cabinet then I would! I hauled it down the hall and in to my apartment, where, two blackened washcloths later, I shoved it under my existing flat plank desk! Though in doing so I lose the nice surface area on top of the cabinet, it's really pretty convenient to have a set of drawers next to my desk where I previously had nothing!

So, I will continue to fuss around rearranging until I'm comfortable, which, may never come. For example, I rearranged my room in New Orleans, what, a week or so before I check out for good?! Sometimes I just feel like shaking things up a bit! Not sure if there are any issues involved in that but I'd guess you could deduce something. . .anything to add Aunt Toni!?

Oh, and before I forget, as while we're on the topic of changes, I just thought it would be interesting to note that for the Level 3 Speaking lesson last week, the kids had to read a passage and answer questions about Tupac Shakur. Having an interest in the topic at hand, I managed to expand the passage into a brief lecture about the development of hip-hop and Tupac's role as an American icon. This of course I supplemented with relevant material. . .notably, a recording of the highly acclaimed Tupac song "Changes," which discusses a wide range of social, political, racial and economical issues. The kids didn't exactly get it, and no one really liked the song. . .but I sure had a fun time teaching it to them!

-It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes.
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live,
and let's change the way we treat each other.
You see the old way wasn't working
so it's on us to do what we gotta do, to survive.
And still I see no changes
Can't a brother get a little peace?
It's war on the streets & the war in the Middle East.
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs so the police can bother me-

Tupac Shakur-"Changes"