Livin' in Dongtan

Generally I avoid laundromats like the plague.  "Why?" you ask.  Well, I don't like other people around when I'm folding my underwear.  Or when I'm washing my underwear... or when you can see it in the dryer.  It's silly, I know, because we all have it, we all (generally) wear it, it's not a big deal.  I just don't like it!  So I was really excited that my apartment has a washer.  There is no electric dryer, but I do have a nice drying area in the laundry room, so that's ok.  It takes a couple days sometimes, but with planning it's officially no big deal.  However, when it comes to bedding, that system is just not good.  First of all, even if I could fit my comforter (that came with the apt, btw) into the washer, it would take forever to dry.  Therefore, I found myself in a laundromat at about 10pm on a Thursday night to do a load of bedding with J and A.

The thing about this particular laundromat is that they have a massage chair.  For 1000 won you can sit in it for 15 mins and it massages EVERYTHING!  I sat down after putting in my money and there's rollers to massage your feet, the parts around your calves inflate and massage those, there's the usual rollers in the back and boy, did they find the bits that make me jump!  Even where you put your arms inflates and squeezes you.  I can now see why J and A will go there just to sit in the chair!

Loot at it!  It's amazing how nice this thing can feel.

Anyway, back to doing laundry.  I was perplexed initially because I couldn't see where to put in the laundry detergent or the fabric softener.  Well, it turns out that those are automatically added and provided, so you don't have to worry.  Pretty nice, actually.  So the cost was 7000 won for a wash, then for the dryer you put in 500 won coins until you got to the time that you wanted (multiples of 8 mins per 500 won, I think it was).  A also brought wine slushies, which I thought was rather sweet of her.

 A with her slushy and the washer in the back ground.

J in a chair WAY too big for her.  And no, I didn't get the memo that we were supposed to change into something pink... not that I have anything that is pink, but I digress.

The laundromat we went to is really nice.  They had wifi, water and tea provided, and a really nice little area to sit and wait for your laundry to get done.  It's also across the street from the Korean BBQ place that we all love so much, so it's between J and my apts.  A had a longer walk cuz she lives further down than J and I do.  It was a pleasant bedding washing experience, really.  And it was nice to be able to get into bed with clean bedding.  I keep saying bedding and not sheets because they only use a bottom sheet here, not a top one.  So finally being able to wash my comforter was nice.  I think I'll get into a routine where I wash it at least once a month.  Also, going so late meant that there was no one else there.  Very nice.

So that's the story of doing laundry in Dongtan.  One of the awful things about public transportation - figuring out when the last bus/train is that will take you home!  I really need to learn Korean.

Otherwise, it's business as usual.  Looking forward to the mud fest this weekend (Boryeong mud festival is the name, if you want to look it up).  Going with A, her mom, and T.  I keep on hearing Gir's voice in the back of my head - "I'm gonna go play in the mud!"  My dad also just reminded me today that I've always had a penchant for playing in the mud... though this time Mom won't be getting mad at me for ruining my clothes.  ;)  Though I maintain, pretty much anything can be cleaned.  Learned that at Hot As Hell fest in Tulsa a few years ago... our shoes were NASTY!

Gotta love the pollution - got myself a brand new mask today - this one should filter all the nasties.  I have to laugh at myself, smoked cigs on and off for years, move to Korea, buy a mask and think 'look at me, taking care of my lungs.' LMAO!!!

Life is good.  MUAH!  Love and miss you all back home, will have pix of mudfest sometime next week.