Two Months

Can anyone believe I've been here two months? Because I can't.

That is 1/6 of my time here!

I really feel like I live in Daegu. This is especially true when I return to it from a jaunt off to some other city. It amazes me that I can feel that "coming home" feeling to a city in Korea.

I have definitely emerged from my 40 days & 40 nights "this blows!" phase. It probably helps that tomorrow is payday, that I have discovered the wondrous "tcheon" or Korean pancake-type thing, and that I have my new American friends. Today I went with them onto the army base and we ate lunch at -- lllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! -- Taco Bell. That's right. Ummm-hmmmm. I made a run for the border, and I had to show my passport and everything. (They're not allowed to bring on guests who are citizens of "communist bloc" countries. I find that hilarious seeing as there is no more "bloc" of communism. Besides, everyone knows it's been replaced by the axis of evil.)

Of all the useless, dirty, moldy crap that came to us under the heading of "furnishings" for this new apartment, the one useful surprise was the string of white Christmas lights, which I have strung up around the living room. They are white and they blink at different speeds and in different patterns, and it's a pretty long string, and I like them.

Our washing machine works now, and I did so much laundry today. I rejoiced in the warmth of our apartment and the fact that when I run out of places to hang clothes to dry, I can lay some on the floor because Korea has floor heating instead of air pushed through vents, and it's very handy for drying socks. Also, my life here is infinitely better now that I have purchased a CD player, which I did last weekend, a $48 boombox. Even though it meant I was on such a strict budget this week that I pretty much *had* to eat on the post with them today, because I could pay in US$ with the random $20 I had left in my wallet that I'd never exchanged, or else I would have had an orange and my last leftover slice of pizza today and that would have been it! But tomorrow is payday, hurrah! Weirdly, today when I did pay with my greenbacks they felt strange, and they didn't seem like real money. I am that used to Korean won now.

Hey, look at that! "won now" is a palindrome! fun!

The other wonderful thing I got to touch today was Entertainment Weekly. I hadn't even realized that I missed it. I knew I missed The New Yorker, but they have that at the big bookstore downtown (where the Starbucks is). It costs $12.50, so I can't buy it every week, but it's there and maybe I can treat myself to it once or twice. But EW, at the cover price -- especially as we enter Oscar season -- that rocked.

Wish me luck this week as I fight with my director about our utilities costs. I am going to insist that the costs from the old apartment be split between me and my roommate even though she claims not to have used the heating oil because she didn't take showers. (She boiled water on the stove.) But she kept the windows open and turned the heater and thermostat on and off twice a day thus using more energy so I think it's crap that I have to pay the whole $150. I wouldn't have used that much if she had ever listened to me, but she is clueless about thermostats. I am going to insist that our tri-lingual director meet with us so he can translate everything into Chinese, including my conditional tenses like, "I wouldn't have used___ if you hadn't ______." (That's beyond even my level nine students' grasp!) It should be interesting. But it was their idea to have me room with the Chinese teacher and not teach her how to work a thermostat.

Speaking of asinine bosses and workplaces, I e-mailed someone in the benefits department at Borders Inc HQ and found out that the reason I haven't received my COBRA information is that the geniuses at my Cambridge store never terminated my employment in the company's computer system. That pit of madness continues to haunt me.

And now it's on to Monday. Happy birthday to my sister! Too bad she never reads my blog! Did you all remember that the "They Shoot Fat Women, Don't They?" episode of Designing Women is scheduled to air Monday at 8 a.m. on Lifetime?! Don't miss it!