Goodbye Seoul, Apartment Delays, and Cleaning (lots and lots of cleaning)

I apologize for the delay but it’s been a very trying couple of days. I have some videos I took so I wouldn’t forget the details. Considering my three and half years of film school, you might expect something of a much higher quality…be warned, it’s my cracked iphone and tired/exhausted/delirious me, not creative, artsy me with a 5D.

So I already don’t really remember Tuesday, but I did go to Anyang for another hour of training with my Faculty Manager. My coworker from training was renewing his visa so he didn’t make it, so it was just me and my FM. It went ok, I guess, but I should have asked if I could sit in on a class, as I think that would have been more beneficial.

That night we had our last dinner in Gangnam, and had an early last night back at the hotel. I woke up pretty early to pack and had my korean-speaking friend call me a Taxi to be there at 1pm. I finished packing, checked out before noon, and set up a Korean bank account so I can get my Flight refund. My room mate took longer to set hers up, and was late checking out of the hotel, but we managed to grab some lunch together and say goodbye before I caught my cab and she hers.

The cab driver spoke a little English, but mostly it was just a pleasant, autumn-leaves-and mountains-filled drive to Anyang. It was only 20,000won, which was much cheaper than I had expected! The hotel had offered to call a black taxi, but those are pricey and would have cost me 50,000won. I first went into the wrong real estate office, but they walked me to the right one. And then my woes really began. It turned out that Chungdahm hadn’t paid the 5million won key money deposit, and so I couldn’t move in until that happened. Neither of the agents spoke more than a couple words of English, but thanks to google translate and a lot of patience, we found a way to communicate. I took a taxi to my branch, to make sure they were sorting it out, and found a korean-speaking teacher to help me set up my internet. She ran out of time, but she sent one of the part-time korean staff members with me to KT Olleh. He was a couple years older than me, but pretty quiet with his English. He was very helpful and by the time we parted ways, much more chatty (I definitely pointed out his Manchester United sweater, with a “Man U boo”, jokingly, and he quickly defended himself as a Liverpool fan, it was just a “gift” from a relative, haha) but I do wish I knew what I signed up for!

It was about 4:30 by the time I got back to the apartment office, 30 minutes past when they said I would be able to move in. But, unfortunately, the previous tenants were still moving out/wallpapering. They told me it would be two more hours. I had nothing to do, nowhere to go, so I just chilled with the non-English speaking Koreans. They made me tea, and we had some conversations via google translate. I don’t really know how to convey how I felt at this point. I just wanted to have my apartment. I wanted to be able to convey in my words the gratitude I felt towards the agent people for being so nice. When there was less than an hour before I could move in, they added an extra 30 mins-hour, so I headed to E-mart to buy some bedding. Oh yeah, I also found out that there was a lot broken in my apartment, including the floor heating…eeeks! It was cold! So I needed blankets and I also knew I’d have to clean. Haha, if I only knew how much. Well, E-mart, just across the street, was closed. So I had to trek to the other side of the city. I got the warmest comforter I could see, and picked up some Windex/kitchen cleaner/paper towels.

When I walked into my apartment, it was so much dirtier than I was prepared for, armed with my Windex spray.

You can’t tell, but it smells and is covered in grime. Home sweet home!

The floor was nasty, the mirrors/glass/wood all covered in filth. The fridge stank and the bathroom was nasty. Oh, and the toilet didn’t flush! I just closed the door and prayed that that was what they were fixing the next day. I wiped down an area for my yoga mat “bed” and made these videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC3dc0Y_dnA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKSumDfseqU&feature=youtu.be

My “bed”…not very comfotable

When I woke up, the first thing I did was clean. Clean clean clean. I know how unexciting that is for all you readers, but it was an entire day of cleaning.  At 10am some maintenance guys came and fixed the toilet! Yay! And did some piping work and fixed a light that was out. Costs me a 100,ooowon a month, so I hope they come by whenever anything else breaks! Sometime mid afternoon I went to E-mart and got more cleaning supplies, like a swiffer-type thing, some scourers, a bath mat, some scissors, chopsticks, etc. Nothing too fancy, just some basics. And then I kept cleaning. I watched Legends of the Fall and listened to my music, as I still had no internet. Before the day was over, I had cleaned just about all the exterior parts of the apartment. My aim was so make it feel and look clean so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed with fear by the dirt every time I walked in. I was successful, I think, as when I came back from a trip to explore the nearby restaurants and bars, I was happy to walk into such a clean and pleasant smelling place. I have never been the type to eat alone at places, so I’ve been grabbing rice cakes and Ramon for dinner the past two nights. Maybe I’ll get up the guts to eat out alone…or maybe I’ll make lots of friends and never have to! Let’s hope it’s the latter.

Today I meant to go for a run, but with my Ramon and apple diet…I really wasn’t feeling it. Instead, I finished cleaning the window and frame (it was almost black before!) and tackled the fridge/freezer. The internet guy came! So excited! The only drawback is that it’s wired only, so I have to be plugged in, and can’t use my phone. Boo. When I have money, I may buy an internet router and use that. But after I have blinds and cups and plates and a clean bathroom, of course. It’s probably the fastest internet this computer has ever been involved with, although I haven’t yet streamed any videos. Netflix has not yet come to Korea, which is a major bummer. Another goal for when I have money is to set up my computer with a different IP address, so I can use it. It will just cost me another 10$/month, so not too bad. I’m struggling to stay up with all my US tv shows, though, especially as ABC doesn’t work over here either :( But I am up to date on the Walking Dead! Best episode of the season so far just happened (although I totally called it!), but I won’t spoil it for those of you who are not yet caught up.

After cleaning and, again, braving the gross bathroom for another shower, I headed to school. You have no idea how nice it was to hear English! No idea! I bravely asked my FM if I could watch a class instead of practicing, and he agreed that I’d get more out of it. I think I talked about all of that in my last video I made. But I did go to homeplus (ashamedly had to ask someone to point me in the right direction for the first time:/) and got a bed! Homeplus is definitely my preference (it’s Tesco’s…I’m English…hello?)

Again, all in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSzP_TmAR1g&feature=youtu.be

My comfortable bed :)

And then… I went back to E-mart, and I meant to buy some essentials for my apartment and some food…but my hungry tummy took me straight to the huge food section in the second basement (yes, most large stores in Korea have multiple floors and escalators without stairs for the trolleys). I didn’t get nearly everything I need, as my basket was full before I got to the meat/fresh sections. But I got a lot of new foods! Rice and curry. Korean noodles. Korean pancakes. Soju. I allowed myself some Quesadilla and italian pasta ingredients, although they come at a high price here. As much as I love Korean food…I do miss Western food. You should have seen me walking around the food section, though! I never fall for the sample ladies in Costco…but since I didn’t know any of the foods, and was starving…I definitely fell for at least one! Oh, that’s another goal for when I have money…Costco! Yes, Korea has Costco!

My food hoard! Don’t know what I’ll eat any of it off of…but I have food!

Just made some quesadillas and mixed that red vinegar drink they left behind with my soju, and it’s pretty good! It’s almost 11pm, so maybe time to catch up on a few TV shows. I leave for Japan on Monday, so I really want to finish cleaning before I leave, and maybe even finish unpacking. I think I may go out tomorrow night with my hotel room mate, as I am craving human interaction! Thank you for reading and putting up with my lows and highs! It’s amazing how things you take for granted, such as a bed, familiar food, and just the sound of your own language, can make such a difference when you have been denied them!

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