I moved into my apartment yesterday! It is small, like I expected, but I love it. It's got mainly neutral wall paper and a pop of bright pink flowers on one wall, by the bed. The school provides bedding and the director took me yesterday to get it... it's got lots of color blocks in bright pink, light pink, normal pink, and magenta. I like pink, don't get me wrong, but I would never have expected to have SUCH pink bedding. It works though, and it was free, so I choose to be happy with it :)
I've been cleaning a TON last night and today. The person who lived in this one before me is a guy, and though he says he cleaned it and it looks 'so much better' than it did when he moved in, it grosses me out. Mayyybe I'm a little OCD but you all know who my mother is, and she taught me to have a clean house and especially, *especially* a clean kitchen, so, there. I spent a few hours cleaning the bathroom yesterday and a few hours cleaning the kitchenette this morning and I'm not even close to done. I'm going to re-bleach the bathroom later and finish cleaning the kitchen. The stove has a greasy layer on it that I haven't even begun to tackle. Challenge accepted, grime!
I just took my second trip to the store to buy more cleaning supplies. To get to the store from my place, I go down the hill, across the street, through an apartment complex, down some stairs, across another street, and one block to the right (to grandmother's house we go?). Then when I'm done shopping, I carry everything I buy back with me the whole up, up the stairs, through the complex, across the street, up the hill, and then up 2 flights of stairs. I can handle about 3 bags at a time by myself :) I think that's quite an accomplishment! I looked ridiculous today carrying a swiffer with its long handle and big containers of bottled water up that hike!
Today while I was at the store, a store clerk seemed to want to help me with my list, so I showed her that I was just looking at the detergent. She was very interested in my English scribble (since it was just a shopping list and I have terrible handwriting, it's not the greatest sample of English writing for her to read), and she wouldn't give me my list back til she had read everything on it! It was strange. I like to browse a lot when I'm in a new area, get the feel for the store, figure out what exactly I want to buy, change my mind several times and backtrack to put stuff back or pick up stuff I initially passed on. She didn't seem to understand why I didn't have some things on my list in my basket. I couldn't quite explain that I wouldn't have room in my bags for everything on my list, so I was prioritizing, and that I was looking at the laundry detergent to see if I recognized brands, so that when I come back another time, I will have more of an idea of what I want to buy, since I can't carry it with me today. She finally gave me my shopping list back and I quickly scadoodled over to the toilet brushes and then checked out and made my way home.
Oh, Korea. I don't know if they always watch people while they walk around the grocery store of if it's just cause I'm a foreigner and they aren't used to the way I look. I feel eyes on me everywhere! I'm sure I'll get used to it, but it's strange. I really feel like I'm here now, though, instead of just feeling like I'm visiting. So that's good.
If you're praying for me, could you continue prayers that I adjust well? I'm starting to feel pretty lonely without my support system that I have at home. I have been so blessed with such a close family, emotionally and geographically, and it's so strange to be so far away. I know that the solid groups of people that I had in College Station and Cy-Fair took years to build; they didn't form overnight. I remember feeling lonely when I was a freshman at A&M, too, away from home for the first time, before I formed those bonds with girls in the dorm and before I joined my church. It's a similar feeling to what I'm experiencing now. My faith is a lot stronger now than it was 7 years ago, but I'm also a lot farther away from home than I was then. I like the other foreign teachers but I've only known them for, like, 5 days, so it doesn't compare to the incredible friends I've known so long at home. Pray that I continue to depend on the Lord when I get frustrated or lonely. Pray that I find restaurants that I grow to love, nearby, that understand my pathetic attempts to order in Korean. Pray that I clean that kitchen and can start making my own food in it! Pray that I learn the hangul alphabet so that I can read signs in Korean. That's my prayer list right now :)
I'm going to go to Seoul on Saturday to do a little sight-seeing! I promise to take lots of pictures. Bye for now!
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