Koreanish

I have this odd compulsion to speak Spanish, as if it will make me easier to understand, one of these days, it’s going to happen.
The director of the school showed me to my apartment, when I walked in to take a look around I forgot to take of my shoes. I think this shocked the poor man, he sharply reminded me to remove my shoes. In my own apartment!
I was overwhelmed when I finally got to my apartment, I felt so alone and uncertain, but I distracted myself by unpacking, a task I dislike almost as much as packing. There is a shoe closest that is currently holding my clothes. A TV stand for my books, and my sweaters and hoodie are on top of the fridge. I have a dining room table for two and one of chairs serves as a coat rack, the other as a scarf rack. I have hung another scarf on the air conditioner and the last one a random hook on the wall. I had to be all socks and underwear in a bag beside the shoe closet. There is no balcony or porch, which I was so hoping for, but this is a nice place in a secure building, so I can’t complain. (Have you ever tried to explain the difference between can’t and can to a child who speaks no English? She repeats like a parrot, unfortunately she has the understanding of one too. I can’t tell if she understands even the simplest words. She is in my class of one.) There is a TV, which I have yet to turn on, and a small fridge that holds a carton of eggs, orange juice, pre-cooked rice (although in the grocery store it was not refrigerated) and some oranges. Tomorrow I will stock it better, providing that my credit card works, so far all I have eaten as been paid for by the school. I think that my charity as run out. My kettle is the scariest thing, electric with a plastic bottom, top, and handle, everything in-between is metal. I have one pan, one pot, two cups, two bowls, two plates, a fork, knife, and spoon. That is all. (Grocery List: Chopsticks)
A broom hangs on the wall, beside the fridge, which is beside the bathroom. The bathroom, which also servers as the shower stall, has a medicine cabinet, but not behind the mirror. There are special bathroom shoes, I suppose because when I shower between the toilet and the sink, the bathroom gets very wet. However, this will make cleaning a snap. (Add bathroom cleaner to the list.)
A small nearly empty room save for the water heater (I eventually learned) contains my empty suitcase and backpacks. Unfortunately, this room does not have shelves, it would make a convenient walk in closet.
I took my first Korean shower. I was unsure off how to get hot water, first I tried to see if there was internet help available, internet research lead me to believe that my gas wasn’t hooked up yet. I was a little concerned about this. After school, once I had Sally to myself, I asked about hot water. Apparently, the thing that I thought was just a thermostat also controls the hot water and the floor heat. However, this thing only has Korean writing on it, Hangeul. So I copied down the writing on the thermostat and took out my trusty Korean/ English dictionary and tried to translate the words.
(Quick Korean lesson: Korean words are written in syllables, not individual letters like in English. This becomes a bit confusing when you read Korean because there no gaps between words. It is difficult for someone who knows little to know Korean to know where a word begins and ends.)
I carefully combed through the dictionary trying to find words that matched but didn’t know how many syllables made up the word I was trying to find. Also, nothing was an exact match. In the end I ended up guessing and I finally made the right guess when I heard the water heater kick in, here one has to turn on the water heater. Currently I am wondering if I should turn if off when not using hot water. I’ll ask Sally tomorrow, she is a very handy person to have around, and she is nice too.