Thursday 1 November 2012

(Day 104) Seoul Nambu Correctional Facility-day 9 D-147

sit-ups push-ups chairlifts
50 x 4 50 x 340 x 3

Breakfast skipped
Lunch rice & kimchi
cucumber kimchi
cabbage & tofu in hot water
marinated beef & cabbage
Dinnerrice & kimchi
kimchi & bean sprouts in hot water
spinach
banana

My head feels much better this morning. It was excruciating last night. Having the lights on all night doesn't help.

Highlights of the day... I get a newspaper and now that I have a watch, I can make a schedule. We got new inmate workers today. I guess they switch them up every so often. I wonder if they get time off their sentences?

I haven't been eating the breakfast unless it has milk or bread and jam. I just can't bring myself to eat rice and kimchi and soup for breakfast, as well as both lunch and dinner. I also have not eaten the rice since I got here. I still write it down because it's a part of the meal and served, but I don't eat it. I never really liked or ate rice before, so I don't feel like I'm missing anything.

I was able to weigh myself when I took a shower yesterday and I've lost one kilogram without cutting back on my intake of any other food, so I was right-- rice was making me fat.

I was able to write a letter to my mom, but of course I can’t mail it until I get envelopes (ordered today) on Monday and stamps on Sunday. The purchasing system here is fucked up. I also seem to be running out of pens faster than I thought. Ballpoint pens seemed to last longer when I was younger or more likely, I didn't write as much. More pens and notebooks arrive Tuesday-- in 5 days. I should be okay until then. My exercise sessions are actually very interesting. Mr. K was a government diplomat during the administration of dictator Park Chung-Hee in the 70's. He's a piece of living history. His stories of living during that time are fascinating. Only in a Korean jail would I share a cell block with a disgraced government official accused of corruption from a time when it was the only way to survive. He talks about throwing money around in a way I just can't comprehend. Living in Switzerland and New York, the best resorts, casinos... And now he's in jail and it means nothing. For a Korean he hates the food as much as I do, only he hates it because he's used to eating at the best restaurants and best hotels all over the world. He’s a pretty cool guy for an old Korean ajjoshii. He told me to give him my contact info so he can stay in touch when/if he's ever released.

My daily schedule in prison:
  • 6:30 to 7:00 am: lights brighten, wake up, roll call, hot water delivery, item purchased, breakfast. 
  • 7:00 am: radio turns on 
  • 8:00 am radio turns off 
  • 8:15 am: some sort of announcement, second roll call 
  • 9:00 am: first exercise session (1/2 of the inmates in the cell block) 
  • 9:30 am: TV turns on, item delivery 
  • 10:00 am: second exercise (other ½ of inmates in cell block) 
  • 11:00 am: TV turns off, hot water delivery, newspaper 
  • 11:30 am: lunch 
  • 12:00 pm: radio turns on 
  • 1:00 pm: radio turns off 
  • 2:00 pm: TV turned on 
  • 3:00 pm: hot water delivery 
  • 4:00 pm: TV turns off 
  • 4:30 pm: hot water delivery 
  • 5:00 pm: another announcement, third and final roll call 
  • 5:30 pm: dinner, TV turns on 
  • 9:00 pm: TV turns off, yet another announcement 
  • 10:00 pm: lights dimmed, stare at the ceiling for the next several hours.

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