No Smoking

After 10 days (which I thought were supposed to be 5) of training, and then a weekend staying with my art teacher because my studio was not ready, my co-teacher and head teacher take me to my apartment. When i get there, it's small. However, by Korean standards, it's fine. I was not the least bit surprised regarding the amount of space. (That TV is about 13 inches, so you can imagine how tiny that microwave is!)

What you can't see, and which practically killed me, was the wall of smoke that we hit as we entered the room. The stench was unbearable. I assumed that the previous tenet, the predecessor to my job, was a smoker and that even the blankets reeked of smoke because he smoked a lot in my room. However, both the "Officetel" and the teachers said that they never saw him smoke. So, we put the blanket on the roof to air out and I opened the window to let the fresh air in. Suprisingly, when I came home from my first trip to the grocery store and having dinner with my co-teacher and head teacher, the smell was pretty much gone.

After about an hour, though, I could smell it again. I actually happen to know the people who live directly beneath me from the 10 day training, so I knew it wasn't them. I could only guess that it was the tenent above me. Since I had the window open wide, the smell eventually went away, but then it came back again a few hours later. This person was clearly a chain smoker! In a period of a few hours he smoked at least 4 cigarettes and the next morning, while I was getting ready, he smoked another two. I want the tenent to have the right to live the way in which he chooses in the privacy of his own studio, but the smell was really strong and I was definietely getting all of the second-hand smoke.

That morning, I complained again to my co-teacher and head teacher. The previous day, my co-teacher called to complain. That day, the head teacher called to complain and the manager sent me this reply:

It was an interesting response because, while I deeply believe in the power of prayer, I was certain that this was not going to stop the problem. I loved how she used for faith to deal with what should be a practical issue. However, that night, there was no smoke smell.

Tonight, as I went to get water from the water cooler, there was this sign:

This must be the power of prayer at work! : )