Blessed to Cursed, The Story of our Shower Woes

You know the conversation has gone into the tank when you hear or are even involved in a discussion about the weather that starts like this, "Boy, quite the weather we're having eh/huh." This has got to be one of the, if not the most classic line that is spout out when somebody can't handle a few moments of silence. It is terrible.

And that is exactly what I want to write about this week. Just be assured that the weather is not as important, as much as it is just a factor in the greater story.

So it was pickin' hot at the end of last week and the first few days of this week; around 90-95F. This was almost to the point of unbearable in an apartment without air conditioning, that had all possible windows open and 1 1/2 fans running. So to Dan's credit he decided that this would be a good and reasonable time to take a cold shower. He was right, it was. We didn't have cold showers to be the hero, or the tough guy who can "handle" the cold water, but it literally allowed us to sleep at night. It put us to bed knowing that the puddle of sweat we would have by our pillow in the morning would not be as big as it would have been otherwise (sorry for putting the image in your head). It essentially worked out real well. The cold shower was a great idea, well done Dan!

So as the week progressed and the temperature started to cool off slightly, I was looking forward to a good warm shower in the morning. So on Tuesday night as I got ready to do the dishes, I turned the nozzle to the left (just trying to eliminate any dumb suggestions that may fly my way from the funny people out there as to why we didn't have hot water) and got nothing. This was unfortunate, because we needed bowls for breakfast in the morning. I have eaten cereal for 99.9% of the mornings of my life, and I sure as heck wasn't going to miss it because I was in Korea, so I didn't let the lack of hot water stop me. I boiled it. It took about 6 pots or so to fill the sink, but I got the dishes done and I was satisfied that I was going to get cereal in a nice clean bowl in the morning. And I did, and let me assure you, it was wonderful.

The next morning, I got up, ate my cereal, and made my way to the shower. I turned on the tap, and to my dismay, still no hot water. At this point, I just had to bite it. I was looking for a good shower to wake me up, but it looked like I was going to have a quick semi Italian shower. I suppose I am just lucky I got my cereal bowls clean, otherwise it may have been a tough day!
As the day went on, I went to work, did my job, then left. After the 20 minute walk home in the heat, I was sweating and looking forward to a good shower. But there was still no hot water.................. Needless to say, I was not very happy with this, but who was I going to discuss this too, the apartment manager? The answer to this is "No," he doesn't speak English!

So the next day, the cycle continued. Cold shower, cold shower, cold shower. So I brought this to the attention of my colleagues, and come to find out from them, they are having the same issues. We talked, vented, etc. and so I brought it to our manager and asked him to inquire about this. He did. We will not have hot water for two weeks!

Talk about a punch in the gut, dishes will be an extra chore, showers will be less frequent, and the cologne and deodorant will cover this up, therefore going a little quicker than I would like.

This is all the nature of living in a country where you don't speak the language, and another case of just "rolling with the punches", as come to find out, the notice that was posted in the elevator about a month ago, tells us of this hot water shut down. I suppose this may be inspiration to learn Korean. Who knows?

More to come in the morning
Kev