My little studio apartment is full of surprises, most notably in the bathroom. I’ve been assured that I live in a pristine location only 25 seconds from the subway with a washing machine, microwave, fridge, “stove” (its really just a built in hot plate), TV, DVD player and plenty of storage. But, apparently the best feature of my apartment is not my plethora of appliances but rather the heated toilet seat. Thats right, my bum is being warmed as I write this and will stay toasty even in the coldest of winter nights! Oh, and I have my very own bidet. Haven’t quite figured out how to use my “robot toilet” yet but it which made one coworker seriously jealous because he doesn’t even have enough water pressure to take a shower while my toilet can shoot a stream across the room.
My shower is attached to my bathroom sink. Moving on. Plenty of storage and not too messy of a room. Sleeping in my sleeping bag until I find a good place to buy sheets. I’m told they’ll rip me off locally but was given a few suggestions. Clothes washer but no drier so I’ve got this nifty drying rack too. A big shout out to Megan (the teacher I’m replacing and taking the apartment from) for leaving me all these gadgets, along with some kitchenware so I didn’t walk into a bare apartment.
Megan leaves tonight for Taiwan and a month of backpacking before heading back to the States. We all went out for Korean BBQ, a fantastic little restaurant where we have a grill in the middle of our table and cook our own meal. This was amazing and will be a regular occurrence! There was plenty of beer, beef, kim chi and some soju among a soups and salads. After dinner we all went back to my apartment so Megan could get her things. With some more beer we said our farewells and the rest of us went to the Beer Garten.
One of my favorite discoveries of the the night was the lack of open container law! Obviously we grabbed “road beers” at 7-11 and walked to the bar. Walking down busy streets it felt a lot like NYC; except that the 6 of us were the only white people in sight. Lots of traffic, bright lights and colorful advertising everywhere; too bad I can’t read any of it.
We arrived at the beer hall and quickly found our seats. They bought us massive glasses and I got the hot seat. New guy got to answer tons of questions, I was a willing participant and shared my story although I’m not sure they realized they didn’t have to loosen my tongue with more beer. I didn’t mind.
The jet lag hits me in waves. By the afternoon my body keeps thinking its the middle of the night but I get a second wind and am great for a few hours. Well, by midnight the second winds stopped failed me. Brian, one of my coworkers lives across the street from me and helped make sure I didn’t get lost on the way home. A successful evening but for now its bedtime; I’m told I’ll regret the soju tomorrow.
