Talk about some kind of rollercoaster ride so far.
I wrote all kinds of mininotes for myself over the last day or two so I'd remember what to write but me being me, I left them back at the apartment and am too lazy to run back out in the rain to get them. Oh well, we'll see what I can remember ;)

After I wrote the other day I went back to the apartment, must've been about half past nine by this time, in case people were searching for me and to like, get something to eat. Nobody turned up checking on me so I just sat and worried about potentially being in trouble the next day for like, going awol on my first day alone in the country XD. Decided there wasn't much I could do about it though, and so ripped open a cup-a-noodle style thing. ....

And then realised I have no oven, no stove, no kettle... so I turned the hot water on and used that to cook said noodle cup. Then realised I have... no spoons. no chopsticks. nada in fact to eat it with. Not sure whether that's DUMB me or just extremely ghetto XD. I made do with what I had... which in this case was a pair of tweezers. I ate a few mouthfuls, perhaps 0.5 cm of what was in there, then decided i wasn't hungry anyway and it was way too much effort. Had a cookie packet. Which, it has to be said, were some of the nicest cookies I've ever had in my life. A stripe of strawberry jam through the centre and the biscuit itself just melt-in-the-mouth crumbly. Yum. Plus I didn't have to do anything to them in order to be able to eat. So I ate those >> and then puttered around a little. Then I attacked the windows in order to start getting them clean. what. a. project. and I am not joking at all. Said windows were mostly one uniform shade of brown when I attacked them. I've done about half so far, and I've actually taken pictures of them so you can see what kinda OMGWTF state they were in. Obviously I can't upload them yet. I think I'll have to get my own laptop before I can upload any pictures. I can't see anything which lets us do that kinda thing in here. When I was done, I had windows in white, green and black. Obviously before I could roughly tell the whiteness and the greenness, but I honestly could not see the black. That and a little read through of the tourist guide - to seoul >> - I was given upon landing took me through to about 1:30am, at which time I showered* and went to sleep.

* It must be said that if and when I am ever rich enough to buy and decorate my own house, I am going to set up a shower/bathroom like I have here. The entire thing is tiled and there's a slant to the floor leading to a drainer. So instead of having to worry about getting the floor wet in a bathroom, I can just splash however much I want and it just goes away. Magic.

Friday began much as every other day: lazily. ...actually not really. I woke with the crack of dawn and went on a mammoth clean-the-floor run again, and then around lunchtime actually went hunting for the director myself, as she still hadn't shown up. I found her in her office, and she said she'd called at the apartment at 6:30pm the night before --- which of course, you'll all remember, was just after I'd run off and installed myself here - and again at 8pm. When I was planning to go home but then found msn and stayed an extra hour and a half xD. So she said to go back to the apartment and she'd come pick me up in about 15 minutes to go get my hair done. Mk says I, and I go back upstairs.

...

...

After about 2 hours, her husband trots up the stairs and leads me off down the street to a hair salon, where he dumps me in the care of two girls who can't speak a jot of English, and sods off after saying "make her hair yellow". The hairdresser's like >>...brown? because my hair, as you know, was black and freshly dyed, at that. I just nodded like wtfever yo. So three hours, a magazine, boa and bi articles that I couldn't understand - well I understood that bi was voted like, most wanted guy in the country yet again this month XD and that boa was a FEARLESS FUN FEMALE [rofl]... along with a girl i've seen on a lot of tv shows over the last year and never knew hte name to but dude she's hilarious - shini, you'll probably remember her from that show taebin and se7en were on - the small boyish looking one with the deep voice who was absolutely rockin' hilarious? - well, she's released her first album. I can't quite remember her name unfortunately e_E but I might try and pick up the magazine sometime, or maybe just wander into a music store when i get the chance and see if i can find it. Lee Hyori was in it as well as this month's "most beautiful korean woman" with makeup tips... again that I couldn't understand. The highlight of the entire magazine was when we came to a section discussing jeans for girls, and what kind of jeans you should go for if you had certain figure shapes. I can only assume they kept the English titles for each section without really realising what they said XD because they went like this:

"saggy butt"
"wide butt"
"no butt"

delightfully pleasant for anyone to admit they have a saggy butt!

What about the "normal butt"ed girls?

So anyway, after all of that, two bleachings, lots of mutterings and pantomimes to get me moving around the salon and doing what they wanted me to do, the hairdresser held up a strip of my hair which was kinda streaked with yellow, orange and white like ..."zis okei brown colour, ye?" at which point the other girl cracked up and laughed at her for hours about her english. They were both lovely girls XD So anyway, I hated it, but I wasn't about to tell them that because they'd tried so hard and I was bound to hate it no matter WHAT they'd done >> because me + blonde = there's a reason i dye my hair black yo. so anyway, I paid. Cost me 10000 won. Around 55 quid [no pound sign on these computers. woe] 97 dollars. for something I never wanted e_e but either way, whatever. I got a free clock for my troubles, which was great because I'd been living on switching my mobile phone on and off [no charger XD so was conserving the battery] every so often to check what the friggin' time was. So now I have a clock hung on my closet door. It's one of those kitchen clock types with dried things and whatever... but anyway I called into the store and got some toilet roll, chopsticks, bowls, cereal and milk on the way home. Got home, realised I'd forgotten to buy spoons. Was determined to have cereal anyway. Ate cereal with chopsticks and drank the milk out of the bowl after like a hobo. I rock. Clock needs batteries to work... I have no batteries. So I deal without the time for another day. After that I chilled for a while and was then about to come down to the inet cafe in order to like, fill up some time and get some much needed ranting done about my hair, but just as I'd thrown my jeans on and was about to open the door, the bell rang!

So I got surprised and stared at it long enough for the other person to have to ring it again XD... opened it up and it was Mr Lee [director's husband] saying "wanna come play tennis with us?" I was like dude absolutely, although I haven't got right shoes yet, will watch today is that okay? Sure he says, will pick you up in an hour. So I sort myself out and snooze for an hour or so, and then him and his friend picked me up and we drove over to another area of Incheon to where the university and a cluster of public schools sit. One of them is where Mr Gon [known as BlackMac because he likes black XD] the maths teacher [I mentioned him in last entry I believe!] teaches. We plonked ourselves in a pitch on the seats and there were four guys already playing doubles, Mac was one. He and his partner were PWNING the other guys - I later found out said partner is the fitness teacher for Mac's school XD so that would make sense. The other pair got in some very nice shots though so it wasn't complete pwnage. They changed over to another four, and someone brought me a cup of tea - in a metal cup with no handles >> so for a while my softhanded britness showed and i had to sit it on the seat beside me until it cooled down enough for me to hold. I'm the only female present at this point, it must be said, and the guys - all at least old enough to be my father for the most part XD or very nearly in the case of Mac / Mr Lee etc. milled around asking various questions of me, or if their English wasn't up to it, Mr Lee or Mac so they'd ask me in English. Mac sat and chatted to me for a while in a mixture of Korean, English and Japanese - he's the only one I've managed to communicate my wish to learn Korean to, and since then he's started pointing out things to me and labeling them, which is incredibly nice of him. He even gave me a full explanation of their money system in a pantomime last night along with the numbers and stuff, which I had only half memorised before so I was having to play guesswork a lot with the money or ask people to write it down. So he has a tremendous thumbs up. So anyway they all play tennis for a while, and then Mac and Mr Lee say it's time for them to head, so we all say baibai and toddle off to Mac's car. Then we fought our way back through the stand-still traffic at the centre of Incheon, and Mac told me all about how this weekend was Korean thanksgiving festival - chosul I think he called it - and that night they - well we, because I was being taken too, apparently XD - were all going out to eat "cut fish" [otherwise known as sashimi ;) ;)] and various other traditional korean food as a tradition. So we went home briefly, sat and watched little Lee [I think his first name's Kwan... they all seem to call him that, but i'm not sure yet so >>] playing some cute ass racing computer game for a while and munched on apples - the nicest apples i've ever eaten, it has to be said. i like sweet fruits and normally apples are a bit too tart, but these? perfect - and then we headed off again downtown for dinner. There Mac, Little Lee [as he will hence be known until I know his proper name] and I hopped out of the car and left Mr Lee to go park while we shot off around various shops looking for a black t-shirt and hat for Little Lee as he wanted to copy Mac XD or something. That's where I found out BlackMac was Mr Gon's nickname "because black's his favourite colour and he wears it all the time". I nearly threw my hands up in the air in jubilation that I wasn't alone ;) so we walked over half the city, it seems, trying to find something that Little Lee liked, and eventually ended up in a big ass store called LotteMart - which doesn't seem to be very far from where I'm going to be working, if I remember right. Which can only be a good thing, because it looks like I can get nearly everything I need in there. I picked up a shedload or so of AA batteries while we were there, and after picking out things for Little Lee that were to his satisfaction - honestly, he primped more than a barbie doll at her first prom night. it was adorable XD] we went through the checkout, then I got my explanation of money, and then we went off to the restaurant.

Traditional style restaurant, everyone took their shoes off and sat crosslegged at a table. This was kinda upsy downsy actually, because whereas everyone was very nice and it was all in good fun, I found myself the butt of about 40569845680456808 unwelcome jokes >>. First I got laughed at because I was holding my chopsticks in my left hand... then I got laughed at because I'm left handed. If anyone in the UK'd done that, I would've kicked them in the nuts or some shit, 'cause there's nothing funny about being left handed, thanks. I guess they're just not used to it. Anyway, so after that I was being examined in everything I did with said chopsticks, and despite Koreans dropping things here and there, the two times I made mistakes with my chopsticks resulted in mass hilarity e_e. Then I got embroiled in this ongoing joke that Little Lee, Mrs Lee's secretary [whose name escapes me] and Mac have that Mac and Little Lee both "rabu" Secretary, and whenever I was to arrive, Little Lee was to convince Mac that he should "ravu" me instead. So I resisted rolling my eyes - multiple times. If I'd given in I would've looked like one of those dizzy cartoon character eyesets. Mac said okay so how about it, should we hook up and make Little Lee happy? I said sure, why not, as deadpan as I could manage, and so we got married there and then over a piece of sizzling squid. It was incredibly romantic, I swear ;) They were all "woah" over my hair being [yay] carrot orange. They all loved it, but dude seriously I looked like a ginger assed leprechaun who'd fallen into a vat of carrot juice. Like woah. If I'd set foot outside in the UK with hair that colour I'd've been laughed off the streets. And no matter how much Krns like it, that's still the mentality I'm used to, to the point where, when the Director asked if I liked it, I said "no, I hate it >>" to which she said oh but it makes your appearance perfect for school!! ...I resisted asking her if she wished to employ teachers or clowns..... and just left it at that. Mac's son came in about that time, and they were all instantly telling me what a handsome boy he is and that he plays this and that and whether I did fencing [I get the idea this was the person John was mentioning at the airport when he said I should buy fencing shoes!] and whatnot. For a few moments I felt kinda meatmarketish >________> and just kinda said "-fingerwiggle- hi" to the kid - there's no way he's as old as me. Or if he is, he's doing a damned good job of hiding it XD So anyway, he was there to pick Mac up and take him home, which means he's at least 18, actually, but.. either way. We all left at that point, and Mr Lee was way too drunk to drive us home [I've been informed he's a heavy drinker. Like I hadn't worked that out already with the bottle or two of soju he puts away every night!] and so Mrs Lee went to grab the car and drive it home, and left Mr Lee, Little Lee and I to take a cab. We said goodbye to the Sec about that time. Got home, and I'd planned then on rushing out to expound about my hair on lj [being that it's really the only GAAAAAH outlet I have at this point XD] but then stared in the mirror and with a .\/. face, grabbed up a pair of scissors.... they weren't sharp enough to cut hair, not at all... so it took me about 90 minutes to do what should've otherwise been a 15 minute job. I have no idea if it's fully even at the back but really I don't care. I chopped more off the front, and blahblah. It's not SHORTSHORT but it's short and it's a little more level with itself all the way around. It's not quite a bowl cut, but it's probably similar. It made the carrot marginally less offensive and now I can tolerate my hair. I think I'll wait another month, or at least until I get paid, and then shoot off to another salon and get it lightened again while I wait for my natural hair to grow through. We'll see how horrendously different my roots are when they grow.

Went to bed around midnight, woke up after an hour feeling a little tetchy. Marched around the apartment debating whether to get dressed and netcafe it, but settled on drinking a bowl [no cups] of milk [no fridge either, so figured i'd better finish it before the next day] and then falling back into bed. Got woken up around 6am by crashes of thunder, and ran around the apartment shutting windows before the forked lightning flashing all around the apartment blocks realised I have metal bars on my windows and my kitchen worksurfaces are all metal, etc.etc. Watched the rain. OMG watched the rain. I came to Korea expecting heavy rainfalls - in fact I told a few people I was looking forward to it and dude I. was. not. dissapointed. I live near the foot of a mountain, and the entirety of the road outside the apartment turned into a river. I watched it off and on between snoozing for about 6 hours, and then Little Lee rang my doorbell to see if I wanted to go with the family downtown for shopping. I would've said yes, but they were leaving right then and I wasn't dressed, so I chickened out and flumped back on my bed for an hour or so. Forced myself to get moving and check out whether the netcafe is actually open this weekend - see I was told most of the shops shut over Thxgiving, but they're all open around me! And it is, so here I am. I've got pictures of my apartment, and various things I can see from the apartment, but yeah. Waltzed into the netcafe, got my hair pointed at a lot by the guy who owns it like omg it's different! I just smiled like "...yeah ^^;;" and this time managed to find my own computer and set it up. Got another cup of coffee brought for me without even being asked this time. I've not touched it yet and I've been here about 90 minutes or so XD I can't remember exactly what time I came in.

This wasn't meant to be a mammoth entry... oh well XD I guess they'll be long for a while until everything stops being so new.

I REALLY need a cellphone, yo.

Edit! one bit I forgot to mention XD when I was in the hair salon, they had a computer on the desk with emails incoming. Every time a message arrived this child's voice would pipe up with "eye ravu yew, eye ravu yew" in engrish about 20 times until someone checked it. It was so heinously cute/annoying >>

Must also point out that I've managed to find a place to buy toilet roll >> so after two days of coping with tissues I have both tissues AND T.R. I have chopsticks now... but no spoon. And nothing to cook with yet XD ... >>;

Oh, and another edit XD cause I suck, some really lovely people from the apartment block made me some food :) some sanpong? i can't remember, and some kimchee in a bottle XD i just hope my lack of fridge doesn't kill it >>