Putting On My Pillow

It’s now Thursday, March 11 in Daejeon and I’m thinking that using a fleece shirt for a pillow may not be such a bad idea. Whenever, I have to get up, I take my pillow, put it on, and it becomes a very short bathrobe. When I’m ready to head back to bed, off comes the shirt and my bathrobe becomes a pillow once again.


We spent the rest of yesterday, “running errands” with Mr. Kwon and his two associates. Having a photo taken for our “alien card,” opening an account at the bank, having our hands scanned for the “Hand Vascular Pattern Recognition System” ( how we get in and out of buildings), touring the campus and finding our way to the “Family Market” ( a “campus 7eleven”). After purchasing a quart of milk, 6 clementines, peach juice, and what we hoped was dish soap, we called it a day and headed back to our home away from home. Dinner was a bit sketchy. No dishes, pots, pans, or utensils made putting together a meal a bit difficult. By 9:00 we could stay awake no longer and called it a day. By 3:00 this morning we were both wide awake. That turn of events turned out to be advantageous – we were able to connect with several of you on Skype. Half way around the world – amazing!

The rest of the milk and remaining clemetines served as our breakfast. Doug headed off to a meeting with his department head at 10:00 and I worked on putting clothes away, etc. At noon the head of Doug’s department took us to a lovely Korean restaurant in downtown Daejeon. There we had a 30 + course meal. I’ve never seen anything like it! Four soups, various kinds of kimchea, fish, noodles, ( you slurp them), red rice, things you dip, and things you wrap – all delicious. Correction…Most delicious.

Next we headed to the clinic to get our chest x-rays $4.00 dollars each! No fancy buildings but Koreans are fast and efficient.

Then Mr. Kwon took us to Korea’s equivalent of Wal-Mart - Home Plus – where we bought much needed pillows, 3 boxes of Kleenex, 12 rolls of toilet paper, 2 spoons, laundry detergent, something mysterious to clean with, a short broom, a tube of toothpaste, and a pan to cook in or boil water – all for – are you ready - $70.00 dollars!! WE MAY BE HOME SOONER THAN WE PLANNED!

Despite our fast depleting bank account, the sun is shining, the snow is melting, we have pillows, and we are in Korea!

Doug has his office, his class will start next Thursday, and they will be scheduling English classes for us to teach in the near future. Tomorrow we’re going to explore, Saturday we plan to take the fast train to Seoul and spend the night at Alice and John Engstroms – friends from where I used to teach.

It’s 8:00 PM and Doug is trying hard to stay awake. I’d better call it a day.