You decide that this is more than enough activity for your first full day in Korea and go to bed.

Sleep comes, then goes, and so does the rest of the weekend. You spend Sunday lightly exploring the area around your house and school, but not doing much else.

Monday arrives and you head to the school at about 11:00 am. The director is there and, eventually, so are the Korean teachers. It is at this point that you are informed that the school hasn't actually opened for business yet and you, along with everyone else, will spend the week in different parts of town trying to recruit students.

It turns out that, for you, recruiting students consists of smiling a lot, saying "hello" until the word loses all meaning, and handing out rulers.

The week passes quickly, and you even get a national holiday in the middle of it, which you use to do more exploring.

On Friday, you ask the director and the owner about the washing machine situation and are told that it is too much trouble to get one. You will either have to use the expensive drycleaner down the road or hand wash everything. They tell you that they put the money for the machine into a computer and internet for your place instead. You:

tell them, in no uncertain terms, that you cannot and will not stay here without a washing machine.

grudgingly accept the computer and internet and resign yourself to a year of hand washing your clothes.