Click for the audio version of this post: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1231427

In the last episode of my adventures, you briefly met Jennifer, Rhonda, and Christian and you were briefly introduced to my new tiny home. It’s now been three days since I first stepped foot into this apartment. Three days since I was outside of this apartment. I haven’t been far enough out of the apartment to let go of the door, and then only to drag the bags and boxes of delivered goods through the door (and good thing too because I don’t remember how to get back in past the automatic lock). Many of you have asked what my apartment is like and how I have filled my days. Here it goes:

Well the apartment is small and it’s actually called a room, not an apartment, but I digress. It’s somehow bigger than it was three days ago. My world is smaller and my apartment is bigger. And my world is bigger. Funny how that happens. When I arrived, the groceries I had requested before departing the US were neatly sitting out. Olive oil, Balsamic Vinegar, salt, and pepper were on the counter. In the freezer were the packs of chicken, and the fridge was filled with veggies and almond milk. There were some “Oat-Rageous Chocolate Chip Cookies” sitting on my dining room table with a welcome note tucked underneath of them from a family in the building. “We are excited you are here. If there is anything we can help you with, ring our intercom at room 104. -The Osborns”  How sweet! And wait, we have an intercom system!?  

I looked around for something resembling an intercom system. There were six possibilities along the wall. Two regular light switches. One motion detection light switch. One working thermostat. One temperature controller — powered off. One unknown. But definitely probably not an intercom. Oh well. I ate a cookie.

The next thing I did was adjust the AC to bring the temperature down a few degrees. Then I ate another cookie. Then I began to unpack, mostly to see what I had actually brought after the unloading of random items to drop my luggage weight down to the 50 pound weight limit. It was less than I remembered packing. It was more than I remembered packing. I called family. Chatted. I was hungry but couldn’t figure out how to work the stove or the microwave, as they were all in Korean and the knobs didn’t seem to make the gas stove flame up, so I ate the remaining cookies. And a fistful of gummy bears. Then showered. And around 4:00 AM, went to sleep. Day Zero.

I woke up at 10 AM. This time when I tried the stove, it worked. I cooked some chicken and pasta at some point. I chatted with Rhonda and Jennifer on Kakou (the Korean WeChat/Facebook). I don’t remember the rest of the day. I fell asleep at 5 PM. I woke up at 9 PM. I slept again around 3 AM. Probably. Day One.

I woke up at 6:50 AM. Made coffee. Cooked fried eggs and potatoes. Spent hours writing my first blog entry on my journey. Then I looked around the living room and almost jumped out the window.

Okay, maybe I didn’t almost jump out the window, but I did run to the window, open it as far as it could go, which is only half way, stuck my head out like a dog hanging its head out of the car door while riding down the highway, and took several deep breaths. Why don’t these buildings have balconies!? The reality that I could not leave this room for 13 more days hit me in the chest in a wave of panic. I felt my heart speed up and could almost imagine the walls closing in. The hospital bench sofa didn’t help. I can’t do this. I need to get out. 

I needed to see out, so I broke the rules (yes, there are rules… to be shared in a separate blog entry on a day when I can’t tell a story different from the day before… don’t worry, it won’t be long) and opened my front door. No one was there. I stuck my head out. Good. It’s not locked from the outside. Not that I thought it was. I can leave if I need to. (But not really, only if the building is on fire because to leave is to be harshly censured and/or carted off by the Korean government, and being carted off by any government is never really a good thing) but I could leave if I wanted, and that was enough to calm me down. 

I needed to do something, anything, so I scrubbed my bathroom then took a shower. Then mopped the house. Then rearranged the furniture. I set up a comfortable TV area in the living room (not that I have a TV, just a laptop, but that’s enough) and decided to sit on the hospital bench with my comforter wrapped around me to watch some Korean Drama. It was a good one. I made it through one and a half episodes around 6:00 PM when I went from an upright seated position to a slumped over, paralyzed pile of sleep suddenly comforted by the soft horizontal nature of that old hospital bench. My hospital bench. My cozy hospital bench. I could hear the plot of the K-drama unfolding. The two characters who started out as strangers, one stabbed in the hand by the other, were now lovers entangled in madness and intrigue. Probably. That’s what the music suggested over the next two hours as I drifted in and out of jet lag sleep. It’s the best sleep. But it doesn’t last.

By 9 PM, I was wide awake and stayed that way until at least 2 AM. Day 2.

I woke up around 7 or 8 or 9 and decided to do something. This day must include something.

I rearranged the living room.

Inspired by the warmth of being wrapped in my comforter the night before, I used it as a couch cover for Hospital Bench. That’s it! By day the comforter will cover my couch. By night, my bed. Problem solved. I moved the dining room table into the living room in front of Hospital Bench as  a work station.

While sipping my coffee and reading my Bible (1 Peter) I wrote out my thoughts and His revelations. I hadn’t been able to focus on anything, even a TV show, since I started my travels, but this morning, I was ready. The time resulted in some really sweet time with Jesus. He showed me many truths and renewed my spirit and my mind. He has a plan, and I wrote, “Please change me over the next two weeks.” I started feeling a bit more like me.

But, much like me, it wasn’t all so spiritual. I also had some hanging plants delivered today. At least I think it was today. It could have been yesterday… but then this story wouldn’t make sense, so it had to be today. Going with that. When they were delivered, I had to figure out where to hang them since there were no hooks anywhere, but there was a space in the window I could hook them on — as long as the windows were open. I really wished there were screens on the windows. I opened three windows to hang the plants on and went about my day. Unfortunately, a fly got in, and I spent a great deal of energy trying to end his life. Or free him. Either one. Eventually, I became committed to saving his life. But he still must go. I trapped Fly in the sun closet with an open window. Any fly in his right mind would escape now. Do flies have minds? Hours later I went back into the sun closet to check on Fly.  I sure hoped he had escaped. He appeared to be gone. Good! 

Something landed on my knee. 

I quickly shut the door to the sun closet, trapping us both in there together. Me and Fly. I kept shoeing him towards the window, but he just kept landing on me like I was his mother. I realized it is very likely that when I smacked at him hours earlier, I really did hit him, and now, he was short a few IQ points. Do flies have IQs? Should I kill him? A mercy kill. Should I free him? I was torn. And I was the fly whisperer. Fly wanted to sit on my shoulder like a bird on its pirate. I couldn’t kill him. Fly was a good guy (Go ahead. Insert 90s The Offspring lyrics here.) and just needed to jump out the window. I finally got Fly to land on a shoe and after several failed attempts, he successfully flew out the window. Or dropped to his death. 

It was a love-hate relationship between me and Fly. I decided to pull down the blinds for the first time. As I pulled down the string, a screen appeared. Apparently all the windows have screens. 

To keep out the flies.

Around noon, I remembered that I had a zoom call with my principal and the other new teachers at the high school at 1:00, so I showered, got mostly dressed, and put on some make up. Time to SOCIALIZE!

We socialized for three hours.

We were all in quarantine, even my principal, and literally had nowhere to be, and those of us quarantining alone (aka: singles) were quite desperate for human interaction. At one point I asked them what their room numbers were and discovered that one of the other single teachers was my next door neighbor. The moment we discovered this, we squealed like pigs and ran to the wall and started knocking on it to say hello. I ran back to the computer to tell everyone else at the meeting, “Sorry, we’re done with y’all! Egypt (that’s her name), go to the window!!!!!” I ran to the window and stuck my head out as far as it would go. She did the same. She was looking to her left and I had to yell, “Over here! Over here!” several times before she looked my way. I really wish these widows opened all the way. It was the best day ever: we took selfies.

Then we went back to the zoom meeting. 

THEN Man Yee told me her room number. Repeat the pig squealing joy. Photos.

I managed to stay awake until 8:00 PM without a nap. Day 3.

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