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| A miniature house M picked up in Itaewon |
Sunday an electrician came by to fix the outlets in our guest room, which managed to go out again a little over a week ago. I was home alone when he arrived, and for the first time he came without the landlord so I had to let him into the villa via our security system. At the time when he rang the bell, I saw two men in black suits behind him and it struck me as odd.
When the electrician came to our front door alone, I thought nothing of it. That is, until someone rang our bell again. It was the two men in suits - and they were looking for someone who definitely was not me. Nonetheless, one of them introduced themselves to me in English and started talking about who they were, in a very fast and low voice, making it hard for me to fully understand what he was saying.
To make a long story short, I'll just say that I was lied to and solicited by a local fanatical group that has been harassing military members in the area for some time now. Unfortunately, I did not realize who they were until I had already given them enough hospitality to put me on their list of eternal harassment. Up until now, we had been fortunate enough to escape their attention. Since they got in behind the electrician and I made the mistake of opening the door to them once, they will now try their damnedest to get in again.
Anyway, on to more fun and exciting things.
Monday the 10th was a trip to Open Care, a shop that provides personal training, bike repairs, and general athletic gear.
Our goal for our trip was to pick up some new shoes for M. His poor footsies needed new shoes, as PT and being a busybody like he is has completely worn his old shoes down.
While we were there, we talked with the GM of the store who was able to tell us a lot about triathlon and biking events available in Kore. I also practiced a little bit of my Korean with her, which was awesome. I've noticed that every time I remember the Korean name of something (like mandu 만도 for dumplings, for example), the Korean people in my life get incredibly excited. It makes me smile to see how happy they are that I'm trying to learn Korean and live the culture. When I asked L (our realtor) about it, she explained that it's because not a lot of Americans show much interest in the language or culture.
Side note: I absolutely struggle with the sounds of Korean. Did you know that ㅚ, ㅙ, and ㅞ are all romanticized as "weh" but are actually different from each other in sound? I still couldn't tell you the full difference between them, but I know they're different!
M spent some time checking out the pictures before we went home. Our outing was conveniently scheduled around the time previously mentioned fanaticals said they would be by again, so we did not see them. I would feel bad about not being home like I originally said I would be, but he refused to give me contact information so how was I supposed to tell him there was a change in plans?
The evening of Tuesday the 11th, C invited me out for a mini adventure in Seoul. We met up by my house and took the subway to Chungmuro (충무로) station and had an affogato (ice cream and espresso) and mojito at a little bar she wanted to check out. Then we went back home. The adventure lasted about 3 hours and was mainly us chitchatting and enjoying eachother's company.
Wednesday was a long and boring day. M and I were in Yongsan all day for errands.
Thursday a day of recovery after our day of errands. LOL
Friday was a day mainly spent working on my Korean and cleaning. At one point a woman came to the front of the villa and started ringing the bell incessantly. The realtors had not told me to expect anyone, and I didn't see the landlord with the woman, so I chose to ignore her. I also had a sneaking suspicion that this woman was another member of that group that I dealt with earlier in the week.
After about 10 minutes she left... or so I thought. Turns out somebody let her into the building and she came up to our front door and started ringing that bell. Wonderful. I tried to take a picture from our security screen but she seemed to miraculously not want to put her face directly in front of or facing the camera. That means I can't take the picture of her face and bring it to the realtors when I voice my complaint about this behavior. Next time she comes, M will answer the door and deal with it. Assuming he's home.
She spent about 5 minutes ringing the bell before leaving and I continued with cleaning.
Today has been much of the same. This week has been a rather tame week compared to others. Sorry I don't have much to write about! Instead, why don't you tell me about your week and how it's been?
Ya know what my first thought was when seeing that mini house? Yes. UO.
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