Grey's Dilemma Part 1

Today was rehearsal day... again. The first half of rehearsal has gone by fairly well.

On Monday Grey strolled into work like most days. He didn't have his iTouch which is a bummer. How can anybody live without music to keep the rhythm of life on beat. However, He managed to stop by a coffee shop to purchase a grande size Americano.

The issue this week in Grey's world involves his partner teacher. Let's call her Belly. On Monday, she snapped at Grey. She looked unrested from the weekend and possibly was on that period thing.

Grey, being sensitive to the situation attempts to avoid any conversation with Belly. It's not a good idea to upset the cat who's not had her meal. Grey knows though. She hasn't been with a man physically for 30 odd years. The culture is partly to blame. Her mother who Belly lives with might be part of the blame. It could be her isolation from the male population that is partly to blame. Her inexperience with pushing boundaries might be partly to blame.

About a month ago. Gib (another teacher) hosted an open house. He moved from the dungeon to a new apartment further from any subway stop. Further towards the outer edges of Seoul's city limit.

Let's back up even further. Back to June of 2008. That's when Grey moved back to Seoul. He moved into the new apartment that his employer provided. It was a small one room flat. There was literally only room for a small single bed, desk, closet, t.v., small refrigerator and a bathroom.

The bathroom was so small that when you sat up from the toilet seat you'd end up bumping your head against the wall in front of you. The bathroom was so small that you can point the shower head on you while you took a shit. The bathroom was so small that you'd hate going to the bathroom. Did I mention that Grey's bathroom was small?

There was one large window. On the other side of that window was another building. The other building was approximately 4 feet away from the window. The sun never shined into the room. This is why it was given the name the dungeon.

Three months later Grey moved out to another apartment provided by his employer.

About a months ago Gib moved out of the dungeon to the isolated apartment buildings built for the 1988 Paraplegic Olympics in Seoul. This meant that Gib's apartment is made to be wheelchair accessible. It makes for a nice flat. A gigantic restroom. A kitchen separate from the room where the bed is located. All the doors in his flat are wide. Wide enough for wheel chairs to have access to all parts of the flat.

Back to Gib's open house. As I was saying. Gib had an open house a few months back. All the employee's of Orchard Kindergarten (not the real name of the place of employment) were invited to Gib's open house.

There was a good number of folks that showed up. They ate, listened to music, drank wine and chatted away about subjects ranging from the 70's to the modern life of university students.

Half the group left as Belly arrived. She ate and mingled as we drank the remaining wine and moved on to a bottle of gin mixed with different fruit juices.

When 11 o'clock came around Belly had to leave. We convinced her to stay a little longer.

"I have a curfew", Belly said.

To make a short story even shorter... Belly's mother called and Orchard's Kindergarten director had to speak to Belly's mom. To let her know that she would be on her way soon.

The point being that it was her second time ever being late for curfew. Belly has always been in the grips of her mother's hand. Did I mention that she's 30 years old?

This is a little picture of how people live in Korea. Grown adults still live with their parents and are controlled by them in strange ways. (Which reminds me of a cool song by MF DOOM called "strange ways" which has nothing to do with this post all together).

The rest of Monday, Grey avoided any conversation with Belly.

Tuesday became a similar scenario. What was Grey to do?

Wednesday has come and gone. Grey has begun to feel the awkwardness stack up further.

What should Grey do?
a. Continue to avoid Belly
b. Take time to talk to Belly and get any unspoken frustration out of the darkness
c. Be just as rude to Belly as she has been to Grey
d. (Your suggestion)

Silver Thermos

I'm always happy to be picked back up again after being ignored for the weekend. Monday is an exciting time of the week.

The first stop is Holly's Coffee. It opens at 9:00 a.m. Grey usually will take the lid off and hand me over to the cash register to the beautiful hands of the coffee lady. What ever she fills me with is warm and It keeps Grey coming back to see me throughout the day.

The coffee lady hands me back to Grey. He will usually make sure that my compression lid is on tight and then he screws the metallic lid back on top. We then travel on foot for approximately 15 minutes.

During the day I guard the desk. I don't say much, just look as eye appealing as possible. It brings Grey back frequently to the desk. At times, when I'm alone on the desk I think about the time he will hold me again. It's my highlight.

By noon, I'm empty. Grey however, will take me downstairs and fill me up from a pot of something warm again. I usually last until the evening keeping whatever contents that are in me as warm as when it first arrived.

In the evening usually not to much after 6:00 P.M. we're heading back home. When we arrive at home I usually sit on the desk not to far from the laptop. There are some other cool gadgets that I interact with while at home. Mostly, I sit and wait for tomorrow.


UPDATE:
I'd like to welcome our new subscriber, 'all about cynthia'. She's new to the blog world. Let's give her a BIG welcome!
For any new visitors: Please see this blog entry -------->"here". <----------