The Crowded City

I wanted to write an entry as soon as I got here, but that didn't happen so much. First I was just too jet-lagged to write coherently. Then I found the use of a couple of Korean computers, but they don't seem to like writing in English characters. Even when we switched the keyboard settings to English, I swear to God, it would revert back to Korean if you typed more than two sentences into any one box. To write one Facebook message, I had to copy-paste from the Google-bar, then from the url-bar, then from a notepad-like program, then... Yeah. So finally I have managed to get my trusty laptop hooked up to the internet and I will give a rundown of the last couple of days.


I'm staying with my uncle's family in Suwon for now. Tomorrow I'll go to Seoul and meet the people I'll be staying with there. But then I'll have to make some choices. I could bounce between Suwon and Seoul all I like, or I could get a job in Suwon and make some money. Trouble is, if I get a job I'll only be able to visit Seoul on the weekends, and Seoul is where my potential American friend lives and where I have a much better chance of hanging with people my age. Hm. I guess I'll wait til I see the place tomorrow to decide.

Suwon is pretty cool, actually. I recognize a lot of it from when I was here five years ago.

Everything is about space efficiency. Check out how tightly these stores and restaurants are packed in this building.

These are apartment buildings. There are FRICKIN' HUNDREDS of them. Every one of those windows is a different unit, they're so tall and cramped that you have to move in via crane through the window, and each unit is worth as much as a house is in the USA. And they all look the same, so if you don't know what number your building is, you're lost forever. Speaking of space efficiency...

This is the bathroom inside one of those apartment units, in the guest bedroom at my uncle's place. See that shower head? Yeah, the whole bathroom is also a shower. You run the tap to get the water the right temperature, then turn a little knob on the sink to switch flow to the shower head. The room is all tile, and there's a little drain in the corner. It's actually kind of ingenious, and it works really well as long as you're careful not to spray your towels. If you hang up the shower head, it just points at the sink and the counter, so you have to hold it the whole time. This forces you to turn off the water while you're soaping your hair or whatever. Saves space and water. The only problem is that little knob on the sink...

This morning, I took a shower, got out, got dressed, and went back in to brush my teeth. When I leaned over the sink to run water over my toothbrush, the shower head sprayed me all down my back. I yelped, turned the water back to the faucet, and then changed while my Mom laughed at me. I think I'll probably end up doing that to myself a few times more.

The only really open space I found was the University.

Look at that! It's gorgeous!

This is me at the base of an obelisk. We don't have obelisks at OSU! The prettiest thing we have there is Weatherford, the only brick building on campus that isn't itself shaped like a brick.

More to come soon.