dishes, pizza, sleep

i just realized another benefit of living in a one-room apartment: when you are washing dishes and wanting to get all of them done in one sinkload, instead of having to walk through the house, you can just turn and look around the house to see if you missed any dishes! I just washed my dishes for the week (I haven't spent much time at home this week, so I washed the whole weeks supply of dirty dishes at once) after enjoying the hawaiian pizza that I ordered for dinner.

The past two nights, I haven't spent the night at my house, so I am looking forward to going to bed early tonight, even though it's Friday. After a nice picnic yesterday with some friends, (it was voting day, a holiday here), I went to the hospital to hang out with my friend Kelli. We played scrabble and a little game of charades, then I spent the night there to keep her company. She had her thyroid taken out this morning. Korean hospital beds (at least the one the guest gets to sleep on) are too short, too skinny, and too hard. I slept on my side with my feet hanging off one end and my arms hanging off the other end. Kelli is in a room with four other women, but she did get a bed by the window! It's actually a really nice hospital, and it only costs about seven dollars per night for a patient to stay there! Wow. I called to check on her after I got off work today, and she seems to be doing well.

The night before last, some of us spent the night at a bath house. Those are good places to visit for a good scrub down and some relaxation time, but not the ideal place to spend the night. They have grass mats and small hard pillows. You sleep in a big room with everyone else - some of whom are sleeping and some are not. For some reason, people like to stay there. I guess Koreans have much different standards for what qualifies as good sleep. So, after two nights of less than adequate sleeping conditions and seven straight hours without a break of work today, I am off to dream land in my own dreamy bed.