Jetlag

As you all collectively say, "Good Lord, it's about time," I have finally made it to the ROK.

Main lesson learned so far (with accompanying story, of course): If you don't know where you're going, know the Korean address of where you live.

Tonight after school at 8:10pm, a friend was supposed to come from another city to meet me for dinner. I wait in the Dunkin' Donuts across the street from the ECC to get only the second cup of coffee for my day that has been filled with screaming children and sassy teenagers. Yes, to all of those who assured me Korean kids are so well-behaved, you were misinformed. Needless to say, I'm chugging the second cup o' joe to try and relieve my throbbing headache as I wait for Amy. About 30 minutes later as I decide to buy a donut, she and Kristy arrive and we plan the best route to the American restaurant they wanted to go to - Butterfinger Pancakes. After the first bus didn't take us to the right place and one taxi driver refused to drive foreigners, we found a driver who knew the place.

During dinner, Amy asked if I knew how to get back to my apartment... I did not.

And I didn't know the address, other than it's by AK Plaza, which seems to be a pretty well-known landmark in Bundang. Google did not agree. But I remembered I had the check-in slip from the room where I'm staying (a quiet floor of dorm-type rooms designated for students studying for the bar exam) and the address to the building is most likely written somewhere on it in Korean. So Amy types the name "Cozy House" in Korean into Google maps and then we set out on a bus, following those directions, to find my place. We got off somewhere that looks like the end of town, and it was definitely not the area I was staying in. We're basically lost with low cell phone battery and no idea of my address. So we see this lady coming out of a restaurant to bring the umbrellas in to close the shop and Amy calls out "English?" and she luckily says "yes." We show her the paper with maybe my Korean address on it and she calls a cab for us and tells him where to go. Whew, thank you, kind lady in white.

In other news, here are a few pictures of my room.

Yeah... However, after assigning one of those white drawers you see behind the suitcases for trash and one for dirty clothes, it's starting to feel like a home. Oh, and because I bought toilet paper tonight. It's 3-ply. I didn't even know that was possible.