Tuesday, July 24, 2012

And so it begins....

Intensives start in approximately 10 hours, so my ability to update my blog will be limited. For the next 3 weeks, 6 days a week I will be working morning classes in addition to my normal classes. It adds up to about 48 hours a week of teaching, plus preparation time...But I'll be at work about 60-65 hours a week. Yikes. I will try to write about Busan on Sunday, but who knows if that will happen. I've been really busy recently, going to the gym early in the morning, studying until 2 then going to work, so I haven't been able to update for a while! Sorry guys!

Last week was a bit stressful. Grammy's house caught on fire while mom and Adrienne were visiting, which was very scary and horrifying, but luckily everyone was ok, due to the neighbor's dog waking everyone up and alerting them to the fire, since no fire alarms went off. Yes, that is a true story. here it is: http://www.katu.com/news/local/Dog-named-Lulu-saves-the-day-when-fire-breaks-out-in-Wilsonville-162467986.html?tab=video

You can see Grammy sitting drinking her water and mom standing next to her in the video.

Adrienne saved the day, as usual. She is always the hero. She responded with lightening speed when Grammy fell down the stairs. Eye witnesses have confirmed that "There was no phone in sight, but suddenly she had a phone in her hand. It was unreal."

This time, she re-entered a burning building, getting what she felt was necessary, including the car keys so they could move the car before it was roped off, clothes etc. Mom was her usual calm self in an emergency and saved the most necessary items. A plastic fork, a doorstop and the land line phone, which is useless outside of the house that was on fire at that moment. She forgot the most necessary item, which was Grammy's purse, which Grammy complained about and later said "I don't care about my life! I care about my purse!"

She also saved Grammy, but that got lost in the fact that she saved the doorstop, because no one can see why that would be important ever. Even when the house is not on fire.

Here are some pictures:
Grammy lives in a duplex. This is her neighbor's side of the house. Luckily, her side of the house was not as badly damaged.

Watching the fire. There's Grammy, mom, Diane and Bill. Adrienne is on the other side of Grammy and due to Grammy's immense size, she cannot be seen.



For those of you who have never seen my grandmother, that was a joke. Grammy weighs about as much as a toddler. A small toddler.

The next day

The night of the fire.

The bedroom mom and Adrienne were staying in.

Then, that same weekend, My refrigerator broke. My air conditioner broke. My computer broke.

This was how I felt about that: -_-

I had to go to Yongsan on Monday, which is basically a giant technology shop, to get my computer fixed. My friend helped me find a map. I arrived and it was sooo hot. I go to the first building and they said "No that's the next building."

At the next building, someone said "yes, the 3rd floor." Then he said "No, we only sell Lenovo computers here, that's the 1st floor." So I go to the first floor. They said "No that's the next building."

So I go to the next building. The people there sent me to 4 different floors, until someone finally said "No that's the white building right there, on the 2nd floor." So I arrived in a pool of sweat and gave them my computer

My battery was the main problem (judging by the giant red X that was over the battery sign constantly.) Then they cleaned the CPU because my fan kept getting hot, so my computer would turn off all the time. It would also turn off all the time if I tried to do things like run a virus scan, open 3 tabs in Chrome. Skyping with people.

I returned on Wednesday to get my computer. It was 90 degrees, feels like 102 with 95% humidity and it wasn't raining. It literally felt like you were standing in a sauna when you went outside. I walked the maze of Yongsan and found the computer repair place, after needing to ask for directions a few more times. Oops. I think I caused a scene by the amount I was sweating from my face, since people in Korea do not seem to sweat.

I then met Carrie and some friends in Hongdae where I took a different bus and ended up getting lost going to the restaurant I frequent up to 3 times a week...

My air conditioner poured water on my bed. Well, really onto my face as I was sleeping. I washed my sheets, then put them back on a couple days later after they had dried. 5 minutes later, my air conditioner poured water onto my bed again. I fixed it and it's better, but honestly!

My freezer had been gradually melting in my old fridge, getting all my food gross and wet. My chicken was on a tiny slab of ice that was almost finished melting, so I finally asked them to fix it. They gave me a new fridge.

This morning I went to eat my yoghurt and it was completely frozen. As were my mushrooms, green onions and broccoli...I think I need to adjust the settings, so my refrigerator seems to only be functioning as a freezer.

Classes are going well. I'm enjoying my students for the most part. I will try and write more later. This will be a bit of my "complaint" blog, then it will be back to the humor of my life!

1 comment:

  1. You have certainly learned to deal with life there! The heat can be exhausting in itself, let alone adding to all the other issues. Hope you get your fridge to settle down. Looks like a very hard 3 weeks for you. Good luck and keep calm....a bit of British thrown in there. Sorry about Grammy but she is a tropper and life is always happening for her. We just got from the beach and loved it. It is a nice 70 here...had to rub it in. Take care and keep getting out there.

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