Connected

After two months in Korea I finally have my Alien Registration Card, a bank account and a phone. Getting them was quite the adventure, though!

My ARC was lost in translation for a month. I initially gave the address of my company's headquarters rather than the branch where I work. Then it was sent there, but no one there told us they'd received it. When I finally went in to immigration last week to see if it was still there or if it was lost, etc, they told me it had been delivered to someone I knew at HQ. So, one of the staff called him and they delievered it the next day, along with my passport, which they needed for the processing. It was such a relief to hold my ARC and passport, and to feel like I was officially a legitimate presence in South Korea. Whew.

The next day I went with my Korean friend Kelly to get a phone, thinking it would be a short and sweet process. We cleared it with our manager that Kelly would be a little late for work since she was helping me. Things started off smoothly. Kelly wouldn't let them sell me the crappy phone that most of the teachers got and that she herself had, so I chose a maroon one with a camera, which I'm endlessly excited by (I've already taken about 50 pictures in 2 days, haha). I started the paperwork, and signed everything, but then when it came time to pay they wanted a bank account number. Well, I'd decided to get the phone before the bank account, thinking that the bank would want my phone number, and I paid for the phone with my credit card anyway, because I didn't have cash on me, so I figured that should be good enough for them.

Well, it wasn't. So they advised me to get an account at the bank across the street. But I didn't want that bank, I wanted Citibank, since my college loans are through Citi, and it was right down the street. We told them we could walk there, get the account, and come right back, but that wasn't enough. So they decided to have one of the guys drive us over to the bank. My two coworkers and I piled into his car and drove a block and a half to the bank, and then we all walked in together to get my account set up. By then, my coworkers really had to leave to get to work, Kelly was pretty late by then, and Daniel had to get there for class. So I stayed, with the phone guy and the bank people. When they finished setting up my account, they handed the info right to the phone guy so that he could finish setting up my account by phone. Then he drove me back to the store to get my phone (where the other Korean phone guys all flocked around to speak a little but of English with me, including offering themselves up as potential boyfriends and telling me I could have my pick, which was actually more funny than creepy, and they were laughing, so it was ok). I thought that would be farewell, but then he gestured for me to get in the car again so he could drive me right to work! He couldn't speak much English, so after a few minutes of silence in the car, he asked, "Music?" to which I replied, "Ne." (yes) and we listened to G-Dragon and both sort of sang along hesitantly for the rest of the ride. When we got to my office, he got out of the car, shook my hand, hugged me, and then bowed repeatedly until he got back to his door. It was all very sweet and amusing, and was a fascinating end to a bizarre day.

So now I have a phone and a bank account, and a funny story to top things off.

...

Halloween isn't celebrated here in Korea, so for the second half of the week I went through the lessons faster to leave time at the end to teach the kids a bit about my favorite holiday. We talked about what they already knew ("Teacher - candy!!") and I showed them pictures of jack-o-lanterns and haunted houses, etc. They drew pictures of the costumes they would wear, and I gave them handouts I made with word searches, crosswords, and blank pumpkins to draw their own jack-o-lanterns. And, of course, I gave them candy : )

For Halloween we teachers went to a house party and later to a University area with a lot of bars and live music where there were Halloween parties going on. I was dressed as an ajima, which is a middle-aged and older Korean woman, specifically who wears a big visor, goes mountain climbing, and picks up trash on the public beaches. She is a common figure here, and stands out because of her visor and her clashing clothes. Every person I met knew I was an ajima. Some younger Koreans wanted to take pictures with me, which was funny. I don't actually have any pictures of myself, b/c my camera died, and the camera on my phone was too dark, but hopefully my friends will upload their pictures soon.

We had a pretty good night, but I've had some amazing Halloweens in the past, including on State Street in Madison, which is actually listed on Wikipedia as being famous for it's party - I showed my students. But being in Korea definitely made it a unique Halloween, and it was fun to see all of the costumes people had. I was def. the best ajima I saw - a number of guys did the visor thing, and one girl almost beat me, b/c she got the walking stick, too, which I didn't want to pay for. But in the end, pretty much everyone I talked to agreed mine was the most all-out convincing ajima outfit. I had a pink and silver visor, a darker pink and black paisley polyester/spandex 3/4 length shirt, a purple and black mountain climbing vest, teal and black mountain climbing/trash picking gloves, bright pink pants with bright yellow flowers on them, and grey and orange hiking shoes. And I teased my hair. The only ways I could have made it better would have been to get a black/grey wig and a walking stick. But I think I did pretty well considering : )