Randomness

1.  Christmas shopping today.  I'm still on the night shift, which makes doing anything other than work more difficult, but luckily for me, E-Mart stays open until midnight, and Dongdaemun shopping district is hoppin' until five in the morning.  So tonight, I closed down three different shopping malls.  First, to the Express Bus Terminal Underground Shopping Street, for a Christmas tree.  More on this later--I'll just say here that I'm sad to not be putting up a live tree this year.  Next, E-Mart for a couple of food items and a small Christmas gift for my sweet husband.  E-Mart is great.  Tonight's discovery--to be filed under "Only in Korea"--canned meat product in the organic section.  They love their Spam here.  Next, on to Dongdaemun.  It was mostly the fashion malls that were open so I didn't buy that much (clothes shopping just hurts my feelings here because nothing fits; I don't even bother trying to shop for shoes), but it was fun to wander around, and fun to not feel like it was weird to be wandering around at 2:30.

2.  I was not happy with the ah-pah-tu this week.  First, the Yellow Tie Guys (all the employees that man the security booths and maintenance offices wear yellow ties) woke me up at 2:30 p.m., the equivalent of 4:30 in the morning for a day-shift worker, for either a survey or some kind of election, not sure which.  Which, add another example to the "I really need to learn this language" pile.  I didn't know which block to put a stamp in, so they compromised by just having me sign my name, then write "wife," and sign again.  Who knows?  The next day, they woke me up at 10:30 a.m. to tell me there was a water leak in the apartment below.  Since I haven't done laundry or run the dishwasher since Thanksgiving (I told you I was a little behind on household chores), I was fairly certain that I didn't cause the leak, but ok, come have a look.  Kyoungmin Unnie saved me--my realtor didn't answer the phone when I called, and Mike was out in the field, so I called her and she translated for me.  Such a blessing to have family here!  I went back to sleep.  My realtor called half an hour later; I explained the situation, she called the ah-pah-tu, then called me back--the leak's not an emergency, and the maintenance people aren't going to come until after 4 p.m.  Perfect.  I went back to sleep.  An hour later, the doorbell rings again.  It's the Yellow Tie Guys.  Seriously?  Ten minutes, then they leave and I try to sleep again...only to be woken up, again, half an hour later.  This time after they leave I tape a piece of paper with a big red X over the doorbell.  Back to bed.  1:30 p.m., the doorbell rings again.  I am really, REALLY wishing I knew how to express anger politely in Korean.  Instead, I open the door and tell them, in English, that I have a 15 hour shift tonight  and really need to sleep.  I'm pretty sure that they didn't understand what I said; I'm also pretty sure that they caught my meaning from my facial expression and tone of voice.  Long story short, the maintenance guys have to order a part, and they're going to fix it sometime next week.  I'm going to try to disable the doorbell.

3.  Ok, #2 was more of a rant than I intended.  I get cranky when I'm sleep-deprived.

4.  It's impossible to dislike living in a country that has heated subway seats and heated public toilet seats.

5.  It's funny--Mike and I have seen each other at least once every week since we've been in Korea, but I still miss him a lot when we're apart.  In a weird way, it feels like we're more distant during the short separations than we were when we were living on separate continents.  I think it's mostly because we're both busy, and on different schedules, and since we know we'll see each other in a couple of days we don't make as much effort to write long emails or catch each other at a good time for meaningful phone conversation.  Or maybe it's because after getting used to actually being together, phone calls and emails just don't cut it.  Whatever the reason, I miss my husband!