On We Go

Finally, a toothpaste that understands the way I feel.


Today definitely saw it's share of difficulties. I awoke nice and early, and found out that, "surprise," I am back to playing the Kid on Thursday. This is because someone is really sick and needs me to cover. It's fine, since I knew both parts and actually like the Kid part better, but a bit crazy, yes. I then got ready so that I'd be able to catch the free shuttle bus to Ilsan (the nearest real cityish place) so that I could get adapter plugs. No one was really able to give me any info on how or where to get these, since they all bought there from a guy known as "Tech- Jeff," who is no longer at EV. It was unclear as to whether the bus left at 11:00 am, or 11:30, so I got ready for the earliest departure. When I got to the main entrance of the Village, a security guard informed me that the bus would leave at 11:30, so I left to take care of some things. When I came back at 11:25, the bus was gone. This prompted my to burst into tears inexplicably. Well, maybe not so inexplicably, since the jet-lag has been rough, and no bus = frustrating wrench in plans. Still, I don't usually think of myself as someone who's likely to cry because I missed the bus.

I figured it was time for plan B (which was, as yet undetermined), but first I stopped by "City Hall" where my show runs to introduce myself to the actress who I would be working with the next morn. She was pretty friendly. I headed for home, where I was able to finish off my crying spell and figure out what to do. I found out that luckily there are normal-people buses that leave EV fairly regularly for Ilsan. I went on my way, but stopped by Daphne's first to see if she cold tell me which side of the street on which I should wait for the bus (these things become tricky when one is illiterate). She told me, and wished me luck, as neither she nor Nathan knew where I might be able to find an adapter.

I made my way to the bus stop, and once I got there was joined by one Mr. Lee (whose first name I forget). Mr. Lee, it seems, is a self-taught photographer, who has been to San Francisco, San Diego, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and Portland. He is 60 years old. He was incredibly nice to me. He helped to confirm where I was going, and even paid my bus fare! His English wasn't super, but it basically ripped out the spine of my Korean and beat it with it (I'll just let you determine those pronouns). Mr. Lee showed me some index cards he had with short conversations on them in English and he said, "self-education!" He then read the cards to me. One of the conversations went as follows:

"I've got the runs."

"Where did you eat last night?"

"Last night we went to a Chinese restaurant."

"Do you think it was the food?"

A little odd, no? But who am I to judge the usefulness of what a person wants to learn.

Mr. Lee and I got off at the same stop in Ilsan and said goodbye. Now it was time for my plug adapter adventure to begin in earnest. I bought a roll from a Bakery near the bus stop, and set off for a building that appeared to house an electronics store. When I entered the store, I was pleased to find that my intuition had not failed. However, upon showing the converter I had brought with me and tilting my head in an inquisitive manner (the only real strategy my limited vocabulary could muster), I was brutally rebuffed and given to understand that such things were not to be had in this store.

Lucky for me, there was another electronics store across the street. When I showed him my adapter, the salesmen there directed me to the back of the store and said something that sounded like "elevator" to me. I went in search of an elevator (why, false cognates, why?) and found instead another salesman, who sold me 4 adapters for 2000 Won (which is roughly two bucks, dude). Victory!

I went to the bus stop, and waited, feeling pleased with myself and marveling at the presence of Papa John's, 7-Eleven, and Dunkin' Doughnuts all in the same block. The bus came and took me home (the ride, by the way, takes about an hour). When I got back to EV, I ran a few errands and then headed up to my apartment to put my new loot to its proper use. I was way excited to have a working phone. I plugged everything in and immediately blew up a transformer. That's right, kiddies, the voltage here is different from what i had originally determined, and having no knowledge of most things that are actually useful, I didn't realize this before setting everything up. This misfortune, all of the effort that had gone into my previous adventure, prompted more crying. Luckily, I was comforted and reassured by our dear Mr. Sneak thanks to the beauty of Gmail messenger. With his amazing help, I will have my phone working probably at some point next week.

In the interim, I have set up a skype account. If you want the skinny on that, drop me an email. The rest of my evening was spent setting up said account, practicing material for tomorrow's show, and ubercleaning my apartment (it was cleaned by the facilities folks here yesterday, but... um... yeah...) I now feel much more settled, but I am going to put most of my stuff away in the closets and cupboards tomorrow, because I am dead tired now.

I am excited for my debut tomorrow, though! I may not do many shows, because the park has been pretty empty these days (cold, cold weather, and most of the kids have just gone back to school after vacation), but hopefully I'll get to do at least 1 or 2. I feel pretty ready, and just happy to be really starting things. Also, tomorrow all the Edutainer ladies are going to vegetarian dinner with me. Yeehaw. I promise I will post pictures as soon as I can.