Do Each Day's Work Each Day

Bryan arrived. He is finally here, making my apartment smell like boy and always bed hogging. I have been spending my nights squished up against the wall. Although, I really shouldn’t complain, in fact I should thank him. His immanent arrival gave me a good reason to spend money on that Hello Kitty toilet seat that I have been coveting for so long. I was considering Bryan and his skinny skinny bum; I thought it would be good girlfriend of me to purchase a toilet seat for him. I know that boys like to take their time pooing and prefer comfortable seats to sitting directly on the rim. The seat is beautiful and little sparkly.
I also spent money a few other luxuries, like toothbrush holders and I bought him his own pair of shower sandals. I’m a good girlfriend. I also stocked up on ramyeon, cereal, and other easy eats to keep him happy and feed. I also bought a large bottle of soju, which we have yet to break into, despite his being here a full week. (He finished it off last night.)
I spent the weekend before his arrival trying to keep myself busy. Thankfully, it was the weekend celebrating Buddha’s Birthday.
On Saturday, I forced to Sally walk with me through the rain to the Miasangori station (three stops south of Ssangmun) to the huge E-Mart. I wanted to find the perfect toilet seat and pick up a couple of other things for the boy. E-Mart is a giant store that has everything you could possible need, including a huge grocery store. They didn’t have the Hello Kitty seat I wanted, lame. They did, however, have really nifty dinosaur toothbrush holders. I got a pink one for me and blue one for him. I also bought a Dalki pillow case and another pillow. I will share many things, but I will not share my pillow. I was also going to get another blanket because I hate sharing those, too, but blankets (even non-Dalki blankets) were really expensive. Thus, I have had many restless nights warring over blanket rights. I win some and I lose some.
After the E-Mart adventure, Amber invited us over for pizza, which we had delivered from about three doors down. We ordered in person, but then Amber walked the delivery guy over to where she lives, three doors away, to show him her apartment and he delivered the hot and delicious pizza about half an hour later. She also introduced herself, so that she can order by phone next time.
Sunday (one day to Bryan), I met some of my friends for a breakfast brunch at, get this, Big Rock Brewery. Yes, that is correct, the Canadian Brewery. There is a restaurant and Brewery in Gangnum (south of the Han River). We had a decent breakfast and pint each. The place was crawling with waeguks and even some waeguks hipsters (whom I am pretty sure were a band).
After breakfast, I headed to Insadong while the others headed to church (lame). I thought I was going to meet Dave and Lisa who said they would be there early afternoon. However, they slept in, so I wandered around a very busy Insadong for a couple of hours until they arrived. Shortly after, the church kids showed up too.
Insadong and area was the site of the main celebrations for Buddha’s birthday and the Lotus Lantern Festival. All the streets and parks in the area were lined with lanterns and the near-by temple (a big functioning temple) was completely covered in lanterns. It was beautiful. We wondered around for a while, taking in the festivities and then finally the parade started. It was a fest for the eyes. I have never thought of the traditional Korean clothing as beautiful, but seeing large groups of women in matching hanboks of green and gold, or purple and sliver, was lovely. As was the swishing sound as they walked by carrying lanterns. Also, there were many floats, including fire breathing dragons and adorable Baby Buddha’s hanging out with Pororo . The parade was mostly various universities, schools, and other organizations carrying lanterns. It was cool.
I went home in the evening and actually managed to suppress my excitement and anxiety for the following day enough to sleep. I woke up pretty early though. I had to get groceries for Bryan and I had to buy the toilet seat. I tidied my apartment and then mostly paced nervously. I got to school and could barley concentrate knowing that he would be landing soon. All day I had beeen obsessively checking the flight schedules at Incheon Airport to make sure his flights were on time. I took my cell phone to my class because I knew he would need to call me when he arrived. Which he did, my phone started to vibrate and the ring. I answered it, much to the amazement of my little kids. We kept the conversation quick and to the point, which required a lot of restraint on my part. Of course, my students were super curious and I explained that friend was visiting me from Canada and he just arrived. They made fun of me for having a boyfriend. They are eight.
My classes actually went by pretty quickly, I was very excited and peppy in each class, they couldn’t get me down, even my worst kids. After my last class, I practically ran out of the school, announcing to the teachers that I was going to go find my boyfriend. Their smiles followed me out the door. I kept a count down calander at work, each day colouring in the square, numbers slowly dwindling. All the teachers were aware that my boyfrined was coming today and all the teachers were excited for me.
I took the bus to the subway station in order to get there faster. As I was crossing the street at the subway station to get to the Dunkin Donuts (our agreed upon meeting place), Bryan called me again to tell me he just arrived at the Dunkin Donuts, I told him I was almost there. I crossed the street, and practically running, found him on the street, throwing myself into his arms. I was so excited to finally see him. He looked so good. He was there finally in person. I hope that someone witnessed our reunion and appreciated the fact that we clearly had not seen each other in a long time.
We walked back to my apartment (boy knows how to travel light). I took him out for mandu guk and wondered around Ssungmun for a bit before things got x-rated. During our walk, we actually ran into my director and I had to introduce him to Bryan. He said that Bryan was handsome. I agree.