Entry: The Fourth (and a half)

So I left off talking about my final days of orientation, and how that all wrapped up, more or less. Well, much akin to an adopted puppy, I was picked up by my Korean co-teacher and a couple of representatives from the school board. My co-teacher, Monica, speaks excellent English, so the two hour car ride wasn't at all as awkward as I had assumed it might be. It's a funny feeling being 24 years old and being so utterly dependent on someone to walk you through processes that you could do without thinking about in your own country. After leaving the orientation centre we went to apply for my Alien Registration Card, which allows me to get everything from a Korean bank account, to a phone plan, to the internet in my apartment. Monica was and is my saviour in all things. As a mother of three, she has a lot to do between her full time job and her family, so I'm basically being added on as a somewhat useful man-child who needs help doing laundry and turning on my gas stove top. Her family is wonderful as well, and her husband speaks pretty good English, as well as her eldest son (11 in Korean years), who's friendly and once arrived at my door in the morning to read a note in English by his mother which stated that they were inviting me on a family picnic. It was funny, and also a pretty good day all in all.
After arriving in Gurye, we met with the superintendent of the area, and he's a pretty fly fellow. Myself and another English teacher (Yvonne) went with our co-teachers to meet with him and have tea in the superintendent's office. He has an awesome coffee table surrounded by eight or so big leather chairs, looking sophisticated as hell. The tea was served by his female secretary in fancy china cups, and from looking around his office in between questions, I gathered that his main occupation was reading the newspaper and drinking tea made by his secretary. He was a nice guy though, or I think maybe he was, because I stopped paying attention about halfway through because I couldn't understand any of what was being said anyway.
So before I head into pictures of my place, and all that, I'll briefly explain why I specified "Korean years" earlier. In Korea, you are one year old the moment you are born, and turn two upon the new year, whensoever that may happen to be. So if you're born on December 31st, you're going to be two years old the very next day. I'm twenty six in Korean years, being twenty four in actual years and having been born late in the year of 1988. What this means for me, is that upon my return to Canada I will return to being two whole years younger than I am here. So I can say with full confidence that in two years, I will still be handsome as fuck. Twenty six is a good year for me, and I get to do it twice. Onto some pictures.

My Apartment:

This is my hallway

This is the first bedroom (of 3!) - It contains a Christmas tree, two novelty stuffed animals, a space heater, the torso of a mannequin, several ballet-themed posters, a rice cooker that sings to me when it finishes cooking my rice (many appliances here sing or play music), a set of weights, two tea tables, an empty bed frame, a mosquito netting tent, a wardrobe full of musty old bedding, and no less than two sets of scuba gear. Score. 

My bathroom, free of centipedes or any form of undesirable life (much like all of my apartment, oddly enough for Korea). 

My living room/kitchen, which gets a lot of nice natural light during the day.

My Greek statues, because that's what a home is for.

My bedroom, which is large, maybe too large, with a queen sized bed that's probably made out of a slab of marble, because holy hell is it ever firm. If I put my whole body weight and strength into pushing down on it, I can indent it a whole one inch. 

My fan and air conditioner, which also plays music.

And finally, the view from my balcony/laundry room:

15th floor, top of the heap, and damn, it's nice. It's a bit foggy in these pictures, so I'll post better ones some day when the weather is clearer, but the mountains are incredible when you can see all of it. 

Tell me how jealous you are. 

I already know.