But to me the negatives outweigh the positives so I wanted to look around for apartments before getting here. I did a little bit but it was just impossible for me to get a place without the help of a Korean. I had planned on a week between jobs in Mokpo and Gwangju. During that week I was hoping to find an off campus apartment with the help of someone from the school and move into it. That didn't happen. I had to pick up and move at the last minute so I was forced to stay in the dorms. I was trying to be positive about it thinking about the money I was saving myself, pimping my room with a new fridge and dresser but that positivity is now gone.I was out watching football with friends at Mike & Dave's last Thursday and when I got home around 5 AM I had to use the back door to the dorms cuz they lock the kids in at midnight. The lock on the back door didn't work. That's twice I've been locked out like that. I tried and tried for about 5 minutes making all kinds of noise but it wasn't gonna open. So I was just angry enough, (and just drunk enough), that I started kicking the steel doors. I booted them a few times and was actually making progress when one of the "caretakers", (who don't take care of anything), came out in his PJ's and let me in the front doors. We went to the back door and it was bent in a V and he asked me what I was gonna do about that. So I kicked it once and it went back into place. Now for SURE they would have to fix the locks, you would think!
After that I told the guy to come with me. He started to go back to bed. I yelled really loudly for him to come with me and so he did. I showed him how my lock on my room door was broken too. When you close the door without locking it sometimes the little plunger that moves in and out when you turn the knob doesn't move in and out. It just stays in the hole effectively locking you out of the room. The only way to open it is to use the key. If you don't have the key on you you're screwed. I often leave my room without locking the door and sometimes without my key to do laundry, get water, pay a pizza deliveryman or something like that. Twice already I've been locked out of my room like that. I had shown the one "caretaker" my door and told him to open it. This was two weeks ago. He tried for a few minutes, turned his head and sucked air in through his teeth a few times and couldn't. I told him it wasn't locked, it was just broken. I said I needed it fixed and he said okay. Now they've been asked nicely once and told not-so-nicely once. For sure the doors will be fixed, you would think!
It's been three days since the latest lock-out and still neither door has been looked at. I tried my key in the back door, (which is now badly bowed so it doesn't seal at the top or bottom), and the lock seemed okay. However it has always been hit and miss. I have a feeling it hasn't been looked at. I know nobody's been to see about MY door.
These are not the only problems I've been having but they are the most dramatic. One time a guest of mine, Minju, shut the door behind her and the knob malfunctioned. I'm not sure but I think maybe Justin was in the room sleeping at the time. He absolutely COULD have been!
If we didn't have the keys outside the room I would have been breaking windows. This is a pic of Min Ju and Justin. A bit blurry though.One Friday night I was out with friends and I came home and opened the door without any trouble. But when I got to my room I noticed my computer was dead. The monitor was okay and the speakers had power but I pushed the buttons to turn on my computer and nothing happened. I assumed there was a power surge and it burnt my power source. I waited all weekend then on Monday I informed the "caretaker" about the problem and asked if he could look up a computer tech. and ask him to come to my room and fix my computer. He understood, said, "Okay, today or tomorrow." That was fine. I thanked him. FOUR days later I got another Korean friend to do it for me cuz the "caretaker" didn't care. Sure enough the power source was blown. It cost me about 50 bucks to replace.
Not even a week later I came home and flashed up the computer. Within a few minutes the screen turned red and I was getting endless virus warnings. The computer was an expensive paperweight for the second time in a week. I didn't bother asking the Idon'tcaretaker for help. I had to take the entire thing to Keumho World and get everything re-installed. Again it cost me money, time and now I have some small problems on my computer I didn't have before because of the software the techy installed.
And when I got here the "caretaker" FORGOT to give me my key to the back doors. After the sam gyup sal meal pictured in the previous post entitled "My first weekend back in Gwangju" I was locked out of the dorms and had to wait a really long time on the picnic table outside in the heat getting massacred by mosquitoes before I was let in. After that he STILL didn't give me a key. I had to ask the other guy for it. He went to a desk in the office where there was a key just waiting for me.
What is going on here? Why the neglect? It goes back to three years ago when I worked here. The Idon'tcaretaker started our relationship off by walking into my room without knocking. I was sleeping and just sat up in my bed and looked at him. He left. The guy did it a couple more times and I told him nicely not to do it. He laughed. Then he came in with some students one time presumeably to show them what the dorm rooms looked like. I told him to get the hell out. He started pointing to a paper and trying to explain and walk by me but I blocked him and told him in a much louder voice to get the hell out. I was in my gotch but they were all males so it wasn't that bad. But still bad. Again he was amused at my reaction. Then finally one day he brought two ladies into my room, (and by then I was locking my door so he had to use his key). They were cleaning the ceiling fans. This time I think I was in the shower. I went up one side of him and down the other and THIS time he wasn't laughing because I think he knew that if he did he would have been pounded into the ground like a tent peg. I emasculated him in front of the ladies. At first the ladies were mildly amused at the bashful foreigner but NONE of them were smiling when I kicked them out and slammed the door. He did absolutely nothing for me after that. But three years is a long enough time to let old wounds heal, you would think!
Evidently not. Of course there's no way to prove it but I think the guy isn't just forgetful or apathetic towards my needs, I think there is still some malicious intent. Because I didn't let him into my room whenever he wanted in. It brings up lots of questions. Does he just walk into the boys' rooms whenever the hell he wants? Wouldn't surprise me at all. And the obvious question: WHY does he do this? Who does he think he is?
If he doesn't walk in on the boys, then why was he walking in on ME? Was it the curiosity that all Korean guys have about foreigners and their big shlongs? I don't go to gyms any more because of this curiosity. It gives me the creeps when other guys time their workouts to end at the same time as mine so we can shower together. I don't know how many times I've had Korean guys feeling me up in the gym either. Not always in the sexual areas but feeling my shoulders or arms or whatever while I'm working out. I don't like that. ANOTHER thing that keeps me fat in Korea!
Anyway, if I don't get in too much trouble for the door kicking incident, I'll be requesting an off campus apartment again. I really don't know why they've got me here. They can put two or three or even four students in my room and with HALF the money for that they could get me a two bedroom apartment off campus. I've looked at some that are pretty decent and they're only 400 bucks a month. Then I could get my own internet and watch live streaming vids that aren't jerky, download at good speed, get my own cable TV with all the sports channels, pay my own gas and electric and shower any time I want AND AND AND I could get a couch, some chairs and actually have parties at my place! Man that would be sweet! The school should go for it since they'd actually MAKE money by doing it and they wouldn't have to worry about doors being kicked in any more. They should go for it. YOU WOULD THINK!
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