Shoot me now please....

What a day. What a day? What. a. day. 

I am currently in the process of moving into my new apartment. My new apartment is small and it is filthy. Not just a little filthy, but "4 hours later and there's still half the tiny apartment to clean" kind of filthy. Today I set out to travel the hour to my new apartment, from my current residence (hotel status), and pick up a bunch of cleaning supplies to clean with. Yesterday I went to the apartment, hoping I could move in the following day, but as I entered the apartment it became very, very clear, that that wouldn't be happening. And I definitely didn't come prepared to tackle the mess that the former tenant left behind. I guess in Korea you aren't required to clean a place when you move out. Lucky them. Not lucky Lindsey. So I spent a couple hours there yesterday with make-do cleaning supplies. The problem being a foreigner, not knowing the language and having a dirty apartment to clean ... you have no effin idea where the nearest grocery store, or as they call them, department store is, to buy household items! So I called up my friend Peter last night who informed me of a one-stop shopping place where I'd find everything I need. 

I went to my apartment, set out to clean, and set-up to kill. I got through nearly 2 hours of cleaning just my bathroom/shower (yes it's an all-in-one room) and I already had to leave. I had an important phone date with friends and family and had to be back at my hotel. Get back to the hotel an hour later, and an hour late for my date, but still managed to catch them. 

After the the date, I decide I'm finally going to attempt buying my bed online. I've been trying to buy it all week. Problem is, the site is in Korean. We've been over how I don't speak Korean. Right. So everytime I'm around someone bilingual, I make them translate the Korean on the page that tells all the details about my bed. And these aren't easy details. Do you want a foam mattress? Do you want foam and springs? Do you want springs, foam springs on the corners for added support, and more foam on the top? Do you want a frame? A wood frame? Which color? Walnut? Antique? The list goes on, and it goes on all in Korean. So, after days of multiple translators, I decide to just get the guy at the front desk (by far my best translator) to help me actually buy it this time. I go to buy it .... they don't take foreign bank account numbers. Okay. Credit Card! They don't take foreign credit cards. Okay. Paypal! I transfer funds into my paypal account from my US checking account. Then I see it will take 3-5 days to approve. F*&K! I need my bed yesterday! So I decide to do an immediate transfer using my credit card. Great. I go to cancel the transfer from my checking and, wait, what? You can't cancel a transfer! I now have to let the little money I do have, transfer into a paypal account in the next 3-5 days, just so I can transfer it back. Awesome. 

It gets better. Then, I get an email from Paypal. Suspicious activity is happening on my account so they have stopped all activity. To access my account I must answer several questions. And may I mention, this stopped activity, also means stopped activity on my bed purchase. That's right, "no they diiiin't!". I need a place to sleep in the coming days.  So, I go to resolve the issue online. I'm answering all of these questions and then I get to the last one "please provide a current phone number where we can call you within the next 1 minutes". I put down my cell phone # in Seoul. Rejected! Wrong format for a phone number. No options for an international number. Great. I decide to use my "pre-paid and probably highly illegal second-hand cell phone" to call paypal and get shit straightened out. I get an agent on the line, he starts working on the issue and all the sudden silence. Word of advice, don't use a pre-paid domestic phone to make international calls. 

I call the front desk. "I need to make an international call" (against my will), knowing I'm gonna pay an arm and a leg for this call. Thanks paypal. Punch myself in the face for using you.

I call, I get the issue resolved after telling the operator 3 times that I'm not serving in the military in Korea, thank you very much. 

I'm exausted. I haven't prepped at all for my classes tomorrow and I have to be at the immigration office at 9am (an hour away from the hotel) to settle my alien registration. I also will be making an unplanned stop at the phone place where I bought my totally legal and legit phone so I can put some more money on it. 

It's 11:00pm. I just decide to throw in some laundry since it will take 2 days for those clothes to line dry and then bust out an hour of prep. I had thrown some dirty clothes in there earlier, but planned to add more later and turn the sucker on. Funny, I go to open the door and it won't open. Either the door has decided to jam, or it's decided to lock. I wouldn't know. I don't read Korean and therefore I don't read anything on that machine. After about 5 minutes of just purely trying to bust the door open with my death-grip, I give up and give my clothes a nice wave goodbye using just one of my fingers. 

Screw prep. I'm gonna blog this mother out! 

Those poor kids that call me teacher...