When I moved in they installed my washing machine on the balcony and now the water pipe is frozen! Argh . . .

Last night when Julianne and I got home from the arboretum we tried to start a load of laundry . . . and then noticed that the water was coming out in a trickle that eventually was almost nothing . . . argh!

This is the offending pipe. The primary pipe coming out of the wall looks like it has been 'insulated' by some kind of improvised low-budget method . . .

The tiny detail (insert sarcasm here) that seems to be missing is that the hose that feeds the washing machine has NO INSULATION.

Korean apartments are small to begin with so finding a place for a full size washing machine can be 'interesting.' Shane, a friend that I work with, has his washing machine sitting just outside his bathroom door inside his kitchen . . . I've known other foreign teachers who had to have the machine sitting INSIDE the bathroom because there was no other water source for it.

I wonder what Holmes on Homes has to say about this kind of thing . . . lol.

Luckily, we have two space heaters. I put one out on the balcony and pointed it at the hose in the hopes that it will thaw the ice . . .

I wanted to leave the heater on all night but images of a fire, and the stories I've read about fires and foreign teachers in Korea, kept going through my head so I shut it off when we went to sleep.

Looking back at moving in day now I realize I should have thought of the fact that Chuncheon is known for having cold winters. I never considered how a balcony with only glass windows to encase it would make it a terrible location for a washing machine unless proper insulation was put around the water pipe . . .

I guess this is just one more thing to add to the list of things you cannot assume when you leave your home culture to live in a foreign country.

In spite of the few problems I've had this year in the apartment it's still the best one I've had in four years . . . and I wouldn't trade it for ANY of the previous places I've lived.

I also miss having a dryer . . . sigh. Warm smelly good softness of freshly dried towels . . .

J