water woes

I have no emotional attachment to my apartment in Korea. I live there, I deal with it. But it's freaking old, and things are falling apart in it. I've touched tiles on the bathroom walls and they just fell off. The windows are an older style, so you can't lock them- not that it matters since I'm on the 5th floor, but it also means that wind and little critters creep through. Korea's heating system isn't vent-based, but floor based. Pipes wind around the floor and are surrounded by cement which absorbs and spreads heat when hot water flows through. The pipes in my floor broke twice this year. The second time, I had to move out for a week while my plastic roll out wood pattern floor covering was ripped up, belongings thrown in bags and boxes, all the food in my fridge spoiled (though they left me 10 whole dollars to replace it!) 


Last night at 3 am, when I was brushing my teeth, I heard what sounded like a torrential downpour. Or a waterfall. Or someone spraying a hose on the other side of the bathroom wall. It wasn't raining, but the water didn't sound like it was coming from the apartment below me. Oh no. It was a pipe in this scary little back room I've never looked in that had burst and ,was spewing water and making a shallow wading pool. Fortunately, John was with me and he was smart enough to figure out how to turn the water off in my apartment. But that meant we couldn't stay there- do you realize just how much we depend on running water? Wow. So at 3 in the morning we had to pack up some stuff and catch a cab to his apartment. 


The water had leaked into the apartment below- the woman who lives there came out as we were leaving, and in my broken and crappy Korean I explained that there wasn't any more water; we turned it off, and that today I'd contact someone to see about getting it fixed. Yeah, still waiting on getting in touch... I'm hoping I won't be waiting until Monday, but then I can just get some more clothes and stay at John's- not really a big deal there. 


You have no idea how much I dream of living someplace newer, fresher, where I don't have to worry about what's going to fall off next.