Arrival

(I typed this the first night, but just today got internet in my place to post it)

Day 1= the first 48

12:53AM, Thurs Oct 21

I’m in the middle of a battle between who lives in this apartment. Me or the extended cockroach family. I guess because my extended relatives came to visit they also felt it necessary to have a family reunion.

I’m not quite sure how I’m going to sleep tonight, but between the large amounts of Raid that I’ve used during the battle and my lack of sleep, I will pass out or OD on the fumes. Whichever comes first is fine with me as long as I don’t wake up kissing a roach.

To backtrack-

Flight from pitt-san fran was great. I sat in between an elderly German couple and when I asked the woman if she would like to switch seats so that she could sit next to her husband she said, ‘no we see enough of each other” haha the couple is easily in their 70’s and super active. Traveling all over the world, they currently live in Lake Tahoe, going skiing and hiking. Truly inspirational ppl. They both waved huge good byes to me when we parted ways in cali… even though I didn’t really know them, I felt the urge to hug them and get all their contact info. But I didn’t.

Flight part 2- san fran to incheon/seoul. 12 hours, give or take. Sat next to an elderly Korean man who didn’t speak a lick of English and a woman in her mid-thirties, a career counselor for the us army. We were both excited to be living in korea for a year so through out the flight we practiced the few phrases we knew, and briefed each other on what Korean customs we should be aware of. The woman next to her was a Korean woman in her 50’s and she was very excited to talk to us. The only movies were: night at the museum 2, something about a train/hostage situation 123, and transformers 2. I watched all three. Twice.

I was picked up at the airport by my Korean brother. He worked for the recruiting company, but he looked and dressed like my real life brother, Dylan. He was a couple of minutes late but was still nonetheless excited to show me the sign that said “Welcome Taylor K Baker” and the map he drew for me which showed were my apt and school are and what is surrounding them. Very thoughtful. He drove me to the school but not before telling me that my picture was bleh, and that I was more beautiful in person. Everyone at the school said the same- after 20 some hours of traveling that was the best thing I could have heard.

My extended relatives (kum’s brother and his daughter, and kum’s nephew) met me at the language institute/hagwon. We sat there for a while then the five of us, including my manager/the counselor at the academy, walked to my apt. that’s what shit went down. The apartment is fine in size but I’m used to state college apts where the landlords suck ya dry if you don’t clean before you leave. Who knows when the last person left, but they did make sure to leave clothes hanging in the closet, various food items, dirty dishes in the sink, and a whole pack of cockroaches roaming the kitchen and walls. I’ve dealt with roaches before in state college- one of the hazards of apartment-living. But it was the combo of dirty dishes/underwear strewn about and roaches that really made my stomach sink and my mind go, get me the f outta here. But I had to keep my cool, I didn’t want to insult my Korean relatives or new boss so I just simply said, what do we do to get rid of them? Korean dads to the rescue!

We went to e-mart which is basically an even bigger, more expensive wal mart. Kum’s brother offered to buy me whatever I needed which is awesome but then I was worrying about the prices because I didn’t want to take advantage. The bed dressings took about 20 minutes to finally decide. Sheets and comforters are not cheap and I was really trying to avoid giving my new Korean uncle a heart attack at the register. We went back and forth between obnoxious pink sale comforters and decent looking pricier ones. I ended up with a red sheet, blue comforter, and a pillow case with red and blue. The bedding from the previous owner is here, however, I’m going to seriously cleanse everything before even letting it get near my bed. I will use it as extra cushion but none of it will touch my body.

After the extremely lengthy shopping trip (buying things like dish washing liquid and clothes washing liquid are not easy with Korean men.. actually it was quite comical. You could tell neither of them had bought something like that in a while. Either their wives did it, or they used a different method to wash clothes. When we arrived back at my place we went into full roach attack. This is where the universal language of dad as insect killer was most beautiful. Both of them went into attack spraying everywhere and making little poison papers for the suckers to nibble on then die a peaceful death, hopefully not in my apt.

All in all, I didn’t think I would spend my first night with a can of Raid and a roll of toilet paper next to my bed. But things could be worse and I’m just thankful I had family to help me out with everything. I have NO idea what I would have done if I were left to deal with this minor (but totally huge) problem. I’m indebted to all of them for the rest of my life. I did give them shirts, Scotch Whisky, and Hershey’s chocolate so hopefully they aren’t too pissed at me.

6AM

Tossing and turning all night, keep staring at every wall in my place to see if I have a friend crawling around. So far, the bedroom area is doing OK. But even without that concern, I’m having a hard time sleeping. Sooo in typical Taylor behavior, I got up and did what calms me down. I cleaned and organized. Scrubbed the bathroom, hung up and folded clothes. (I’ll tackle the kitchen when I’m more mentally prepared for the disaster that is the kitchen which has been sitting untouched, and uncleaned, for who knows how long).