January 9, 2021
It's been a few days since moving into my apartment in South Korea, and I am loving it. Sure, all the money I made from my old apartment is gone now, but at least I have a job.
Moving and selling apartments is a pain in the ass. When I left Hallyu, they kicked me out of the apartment building because it belonged to them. Sure they gave me money to find a new apartment as a final act of familial kindness I guess, but that was pretty harsh. So, instead of finding a new apartment, I pocketed the money and saved it for my apartment in Seoul, Korea. This resulted in being homeless. Embarrassingly enough, I had to go as far as taking advantage of jjimjilbangs, Korean spas. This happened for a year.
I was able to work odd jobs for a while to save up for a plane ticket, but the money I had obtained from my "severance pay" and the odd jobs was only enough for a one way ticket to Korea, and the first month of rent for an apartment.
I work in a café called Whole Latte Love Cafe. It's cute but not my style. It was the only job I could get on such a short notice. It doesn't matter though. I will continue to live my new life even if I have to start from the bottom.
My apartment is really tiny compared to the one provided by Hallyu, but nevertheless, it is cozy. It is a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment, including a living room.
When you enter the front door, there is a small genkan, but the living room takes up the whole area in front of you. To the left is a tiny kitchen with an island that doubles as a dining table. If you walk through the living room, there is a small staircase to the right across from the kitchen. These stairs lead to a loft-like area that is used as a bedroom. Under the stairs is the door to the bathroom.
Just like the apartment I had as a member of Hallyu, I have little to no furniture. In the loft-like bedroom, I have a mattress and a lamp. In the living room I have a couch and a cheap coffee table. The kitchen, only enough dishes for myself. I like to keep it minimalistic, you know? Just kidding. I just don't have enough money.
When I was homeless for a year, I lived on convenience store food, mostly ramen. Now, I live on the leftovers provided by my café AND convenience store food. An amazing upgrade.
The café I work at sells coffees, teas, sandwiches, and desserts. The chefs there make everything completely fresh, so any leftover food is thrown away or taken home. The other employees don't want the leftovers, so I typically have them all to myself.
Today is my seventh day of work. Since I've pretty much nothing else to do, I work there full time. However, today is a special day. It's the manager's birthday or something like that, so she decided we can take a half day. I don't know how she has authority in these matters, but this café is just weird to begin with. I guess it's part of its charm.
How is it weird? Well, actually, the exterior and interior are pretty normal in terms of architecture and design, but the employees, owner, and the uniforms are extremely unusual.
For starters, the owner is an ajumma* who is a little nuts in the head. She is obsessed with romantic love. Hence the name, Whole Latte Love Cafe. She likes to believe that couples get together after meeting each other in this café. Normally I would be against this idea completely, but couples have actually gotten together. They start dating in the café and come back often for dates.
The employees at the café are a mix of personalities.
Including the manager, there are only five of us, three girls and two boys, and we work pretty much every day our café is open.
Our manager is kind but is a closeted, self-obsessed, and eccentric person. Hence the half day in honor of her birthday.
The two males are polar opposites. One is a flirt, and although I hate to admit it, he's pretty handsome. The other is a shy quiet boy who is on the more cute side.
The final two are me and one other normal girl. We are pretty similar in terms of personality, however, she's much taller than me. She's my junior of two years, and yet she's at least four inches taller than me. Everyone who works at this café are either college students, or college dropouts.
The thing that makes our café the weirdest, are our uniforms. For the girls, we all wear different colored modernized hanboks* with a white apron on top. The hanboks, instead of falling at our feet, end slightly above the knees. For shoes, some of the girls (the manager) wears heels, and the rest of us wear regular work shoes.
The males wear whatever the owner of the café wants them to wear each week plus a tan apron. Some days she dresses them as dreamy kdrama characters, other days she dresses them as detectives, sometimes she'll make them wear school uniforms. I think she dresses them depending on what show she is currently watching. Yesterday, they were dressed in green tracksuits.
I have never been so happy to be a woman in all my 21 years of life.
Despite the craziness in the café, many customers are drawn in, as if some force was pulling them. We even have regulars.
Many women love to come to the café weekly to see what the male employees will be dressed like. It gives us a lot of business, so I can't really complain. I just hope that my uniform won't become weirder than it already is.
It's about 08:00 right now and I am still in bed staring at the ceiling. My work day starts at 10:00.
I sigh. I should probably get going soon.
I reluctantly get up and walk to my closet. Inside are my clothes that I had worn the day I came to Korea, some underwear, and of course, my uniform.
"I should go shopping for more clothes soon… I just need to make money first."
I grab my uniform from its hanger and get changed.
Getting changed in the morning during winter is torturous. It's so cold. The clothes you sleep in are all warm from your body heat, but once you take it off, nothing stands between you and the chilly air.
I try not to use many appliances or things that could raise my bills, so I normally don't use a heater. I love showering, and water is a necessity, so I give up warmth for water. On the bright side, the cold wakes me up.
It's a win-win, I guess.
I look in my mirror and sigh.
"Another day of branching out with clothes." I laugh scornfully.
In all honesty, branching out with my clothing was something I wanted to do as a part of "starting fresh." Pretty much all my life, black and sometimes white were the only colors I wanted to wear. However, when I considered about branching out, I meant with colors. Not a café uniform.
I observe my uniform in the mirror. I mean, I look amazing in it, but it's not the typical thing one would normally wear to work.
My hanbok uniform is made of a charcoal gray, almost black, silky material. The hem of the hanbok falls above my knees. For the modernized goreum*, a thick black ribbon wraps around my waist and is tied in a bow at the back. My socks are black to match my combat-like boots. To me the shoes don't really go with the uniform, but I guess the white apron on top masks the look well. My hair is in a low ponytail with wavy front pieces taken out in the front, and a black baseball cap on top.
I look at my reflection up and down.
"… It's fine. It's only a uniform. You make decent money don't you? Plus you look amazing no matter what it is. Just bear with it for now. Oh, and thank God that you're a woman."
I stop looking at myself in the mirror and grab my black wool trench coat, put it on and walk to my front door. Grabbing my black backpack, the one I had brought with me from LA, I head out of my apartment.