Totally wired

LO: I have already finished my second work week here in Wonju. Time seems to fly by when everything is new and foreign. We have been busy starting a new life, getting alien registration cards, bank accounts, credit cards, cell phones, cable and internet, and figuring out our washing machine, dish dryer, kitchen sanitizer machine (its UV rays kill all the bacteria on our plates!), and our intercom system that includes a camera outside our door and a walkie-talkie to be used in case of emergenies.

My new employers have been incredibly supportive and helpful. One of the staffers helped us a great deal by driving for an hour to get our IDs from the Gangwon provincial capital, Chuncheon.

That was a comparatively easy one. Getting bank accounts and cell phones was a whole other story. The bank is located on campus, but staff don't speak a word of English, and don't have a single form in English. I felt like I was 10 years old and Mom had to do everything for me. There we were , two normally capable adults staring at these forms and feeling like two complete idiots. We kept laughing because that was the only proper response to such a ridiculous situation. Luckily, TG, the assistant, showed up and did it all again for us.

That evening, he took us to obtain our cell phones. Now, in the States if you walk into AT&Ts office, they will try to sell you everything and the kitchen sink to make sure you stay with them. Here, it's a whole different story. We walked into three or four different phone offices, and each one would send us to their competitors -- I don't know, maybe that is how they punish each other, sending clueless foreigners to the competitor who will then waste 2 hours of their time trying to translate and understand all possible plans while the other guys get all the locals.
We found one who was willing to help us. He kept telling Dave, "Oh, you like Kobi Bryant,, and shouting in Korean so we could understand him better. It was even funnier than the bank. We sat there drinking green tea the salesman made for us, and laughed. By that time I just gave up trying to understand what was going on and completely let the poor TG run the show. We rewarded him by inviting him over for some Pizza Hut pizza because he mentioned previously that he liked it. It seemed like a good idea to us as well until it arrived. It was the most expensive pizza ever ($20), it had mashed sweet potatoes as a topping and instead of the usual garlic sauce, we got sliced pickles and hot sauce. With pizza?

Another student sorted out our cable and internet, so he informed me that the cable person will come any time we tell them to. I said, 'Between 10am-12pm or 2pm would be great,' but he didn't understand. After I repeated my request two or three times, he was still puzzled. It turns out Korean cable guy shows up at exactly the time one requests - no 4-hour blocks where you have to sit and wait! I love this place.

So tomorrow at 10am, guess who is coming over?