Well, today I don't. Yesterday was Chuseok, which is essentially the Korean version of Thanksgiving, so we have a three day weekend. Plus, I am recovering from a night out in Seoul. But more on that later.
The title of this post is intended to be a reference to The Daily Show's "This Week in God," which they had back when Stephen Colbert was still a correspondent. Colbert would hit a big button and the green screen would beepboopbop until it dinged! on some religious topic. It was great. I guess the title isn't as funny when you insert the word Korea...
Anyway, beepboopbopbeep...Arrival!
After a flight that could easily be classified as torture, I arrived at Incheon International Airport on Sept. 9th at 5:40pm, exhausted and frazzled. Luckily, the director of the school I'll be teaching at and the girl who started at the same time as me were there to pick me up. Otherwise I think I would have found a nice garbage can to pass out next to.
We drove to Bucheon, where I am living, which is like a suburb of both Seoul and Incheon, but nothing like the car dealer-infested, chain restaurant filled, soul-sucking suburbs in the U.S. It just feels like the non-downtown area of a big city.
Our apartments are quite nice, actually, and when I say "our" it is because the other girl, we'll call her...Angela, and I live right next door to each other. It's like having a roommate, but only when you want one. Perfect situation really.
Ignorant as I am about Korean apartment living, I could not figure out how to use the shower, the stove, or the air conditioning for the first three days. The shower isn't in an enclosed space, there's just a nozzle attached to the wall above the sink and a drain in the floor, which is apparently pretty standard in a lot of countries, but I'd never seen one before. Makes sense for saving space, but then the bathroom floor is wet for about an hour and I track water all over my fake wood floors. Whee!
Also, I didn't know that there's a special button in the wall that you have to push in order to get hot water, so I took several freezing cold showers before the director of the school, we'll call him...Mr. Boss?, came over and showed me how to turn it on. Very confusing.
The worst part about my apartment? I THINK I MIGHT HAVE BED BUGS. Which. Is. Terrifying. I don't really know, because I've never encountered them before, but i have all these little itchy red bites all over my body. At first I just assumed I was getting bitten walking around and such, but Angela says she hasn't gotten a single bite. Does anyone know anything about these awful creatures? I wikipedia-d bed bugs, and if I have things like that living in my mattress I am going to sleep on my balcony. Forever.
Other than potential evil demons living in my sleeping space, things are good here so far. Very sleepy suddenly, so such topics as Food! Teaching! and People! will have to wait till next time. Senior Korean Correspondent, signing off.
6 comments:
If you had said "This Week in Seoul" it would be kind of like God because Soul and God are both... spiritual matters? But you already used Seoul. So you fail. Kidding.
Sorry about the bedbugs. Glad you've joined the travel-blogging universe so I can keep up with you!
Cheers from Dublin,
Brenan
So glad you are having an amazing time in Seoul! I don't know how I would have handled a bathroom that is also a shower stall... weird.
Still living and loving in Portland. Can't wait to hear more of your crazy bedbug-infested life. My friend Celeste, who travels a lot, has had many a tale about bedbugs. I'll see if I can get any advice from her :)
By, the way, this is Andrew from Portland.... shoulda mentioned that
I don't know who these other people are...isn't this a private blog between you and me? If it is not - why not.
Your description of the shower makes me wonder what other special buttons might be hiding around Korea. Please keep me posted.
Erin, the blog is awesome. Bed bugs are terrible though. No doubt in your research you've already found that they can survive for up to 3 months without a meal. If it's still an issue you could wrap your mattress in plastic for the next 3 months until they all starve to death... there are some chemical possibilities as well... but yeah if your time in Asia is anything like mine, I'm afraid this might not be your last encounter with the little bastards.
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