(Day 101) Seoul Nambu Correctional Facility-day 6 D-150

sit-ups	push-ups	chairlifts
50 x 4	50 x 4	40 x 5

Breakfast	skipped
Lunch	rice & kimchi cucumber kimchi beef & rice cake soup rice cake with soy bean sauce
Dinner	rice & kimchi spicy pork and soy bean paste shrimp & turnip in hot water

I successfully ordered a watch today. I should get it on Wednesday. There are quite a few items I can order, 99 of them to be exact, plus various medicines, of which I have a list of 420 (I know, the irony a list of 420 drugs to order). I have no idea what drugs are on the list because it is all in Korean. Anyway, the 99 items are divided into groups that can be ordered only on certain days and are delivered two days later. So, items ordered on Monday are delivered Wednesday, items ordered on Tuesday are delivered Thursday, items ordered on Friday get delivered on Tuesday. It takes a bit of planning if you always want to have coffee available, which can only be ordered on Wednesdays and Fridays, to be delivered on Fridays and Tuesdays, respectively.

I only have one serving of coffee right now, which means I won't see another one until Friday when I can order it on Wednesday. I should have ordered it on Friday, but I didn't know then. I had to translate the 2 lists first. Now that I have done that, I've finished my shopping for the whole week, spread out over 5 days. I set myself up so I don't have to buy certain things except occasionally, to keep my cost down, but at the end of 6 months, it's still going to be a significant chunk of change...

They let all the inmates in my cell block out at the same time for our exercise session. Usually, they only let out half of us at a time. Mr. K and I stood at one end of the yard talking. It was kind of cold today. I used the hot water delivered to my cell to warm my feet when I got back inside. Mr. K gave me a bottle coke. He talked a lot about making money and living in different cities all over the world. He even worked for the Korean government at one time, apparently. I asked when he might be released, and he said he should be able to find out when he finds out who the next president is. It sounds like Mr. K is a big deal to other Koreans. To me, he's just a guy with fanciful stories in a place where everyone has a story of fantasy to tell. He does seem to get preferential treatment, though. He's always served first at mealtimes.

Mr K just showed me a book of his life. He really is a big deal. It has pictures of him as a younger man shaking hands with people all over the world in the 70's and 80's. I'm sure if I had access to a computer, his name would pop up all over the internet. Out of respect for his privacy, his personal info shall remain private, but it seems there is more truth to his stories then I usually hear from other inmates.

November is supposed to be “write a novel month” so I am. I started a few days early and wrote five thousand words in the last two days or basically chapter 1. I know nothing about plot structure or storytelling, but I've read enough books I think I have a pretty good idea of how it's supposed to be. And I seen Star Wars more times than I can count. In my head, I think I have enough material for a trilogy. In reality, I probably have enough for one book and I have plenty of time to write it. In a sense the Korean government is paying me to write and draw, so I may as well make the best of it.