Fire at Pagoda

This week has been pretty eventful. I just got news that I will be on a morning block shift next month!! Yeah for that. In my mind I think, I have to be mentally tough because my split shift begins at 6:25am. Students actually show up to take a 6:40am class!! We are trying not to take naps in the afternoon, I'm not a good napper; I get very moody. So, we joined a gym to give us that extra boost of energy. Not to mention that we signed up to run a 10K in October and Patrick wants to be the winner :) Surprised? No way. The gym is actually closed on Sundays and I am very grateful because it keeps Patrick from feeling like he should go.

Oh yes back to the fire......On Thursday around 4:50am Patrick got a call from his Manager. At first Patrick thought she had said, "Patrick you have been fired from Pagoda." Turns out there was a fire at Pagoda!!! The seventh floor copy machine apparently had exploded shortly after midnight. They were able to contain the fire damage to just the 7th floor but several floors above had black stains everywhere.

We slept in and headed to Starbucks and could see the building. We got to get Starbucks on Thursday because we skipped it on Sunday. Believe me, I keep track. As we were sitting on the second floor we were looking directly at Pagoda. There were windows open and there was red tape all along the bottom of the entrance. Pagoda owns the entire tower and had to shut down a coffee shop, a bank, and a plastic surgeons office. Can you imagine how much money was lost on Thursday?

As we are sipping out delicious and dark coffee....Do you know that Koreans love to use the word delicious? Even when it doesn't really apply; it's quite entertaining to hear the word used out of context. We decided to take a stroll over to Pagoda and assess the damage with the American eye. Apparently not all of the glass windows were able to open during the fire and the fire department had to bust open the windows on the side. They did so in a nice perfect line on all the floors. I wonder how much it cost to replace all those windows. At the entrance there was a sign and the only thing we could make out was "4 something something 5" . Talk about being frustrated not knowing the language!!

So we decided to walk around back because we heard that you could get into the building through the basement floor. As we headed we saw one of the executives with a mask on directing traffic. She told us that there will be no classes until Monday and you should wait to hear back from your manager on what to do. Patrick's curiosity got to him and we went black later that evening to check out the damage. Needless to say after we left, we smelled like smoke and I might have the black lung now.

Patrick is working today and tomorrow at the second Gangnam branch not to far from the main branch. I got both days off and am waiting to hear if I work tomorrow for a few hours. Some people were upset about not getting paid for Thursday. I say it's a perfect day to go to Costco and get a slice of pizza, a bulgogi bake, clam chowder, and a coke to top it off. They have the best lunches there. We also discovered at E-Mart a box of fresh sushi rolls are only $3 for 20 pieces, and only 60 cents a piece for the fancier selection. Excellent dinner choice.

Absolutely a fabulous Thursday, minus the fire at the building.