Washing clothes here is similar to in America. I have a cute little LG washer that makes fun sounds:
Like I said, WASHING is pretty much the same, but drying is completely different. Dryers are not very common in Korea. I don't have one so I have to hang dry all of my clothing. I have a drying rack hanging from the veranda in my apartment. I usually hang all the shirts and stuff on hangers and then just hang the hangers from the rack. It looks kind of like this thing, but with metal poles instead of wooden boards:
I also have one of these do-dads for hanging small things:
Fun right? The only bad thing is that it seems like some of my clothes get really stretched out. I had seen some "wash bags" in several stores, so I decided to give them a try. I figured that maybe the machine spinning the clothes stretched them out and then I don't have a dryer to shrink them back. I'm not really sure if the bags make a difference or not. I pile about five or six things into each back, zip it, and throw it in the washer. I put all the little things together into a smaller bag.
2- Where do you buy food?
There are several places where I can buy food. For starters I can get take-out from a restaurant or fast-ish food type place and bring it home. This is usually what I do for dinner. I have eaten all kinds of take-out from my neighborhood. Here are some examples:
1. Hisar Kebab- Has semi-authentic Doner Kebab. The guy is very nice. He's Turkish and speaks good English. I don't know why the kebab's are so different. Maybe he's just trying to appeal to what Koreans will like. If you order a regular kebab it comes with honey mustard, Tabasco, and some other type of sauce on top. I get mine without the honey mustard and Tabasco! He doesn't have my favorite Tzatziki sauce, but maybe that's more of a Greek thing? That's probably for the best, or I would want to eat there every night!
2. The coffee and bagel place- Actually there are at least two in the area. Both serve sandwiches on fresh baked bagels. Who could ask for more? I love the salmon bagel- cream cheese, salmon, capers, and onions!
3. Kong's Rice Ball- I like this place because it is one of the only ones between my apartment and the school. They serve these glorious not-so-little rice balls, as well as soup and who knows what else. One rice ball is $2- $2.50. It is usually some sort of meat on the inside surrounded by a healthy portion of rice. That is rolled in kim (dried seawead) and sometimes sesame seeds. D-Lish!
Also, there is a little underground grocery store right next door to my apartment building. They have all of the essentials of a large scale grocery store but the prices are slightly higher. The difference in the price is sometimes worth not having to pay for a taxi or carry my groceries on a fifteen minute walk.
Alright folks, I think that's enough for one post. Please stay tuned for questions to be answered in the future and PLEASE submit your own questions!
Now they show you how detergents take out bloodstains, a pretty violent image there. I think if you've got a T-shirt with a bloodstain all over it, maybe laundry isn't your biggest problem. Maybe you should get rid of the body before you do the wash. -Jerry Seinfeld
