8:10 PM
Sho
I was going to write this post on Thursday, and title it "Today was stupid," but, in accordance with the stupidity of the day, I never got around to it.
I've been spending my free time making my way through some of the classics that I never read, and I'm currently in the middle of Portrait of a Lady. I had no idea of the magnitude of my undertaking until I went to a bookstore yesterday and saw how thick the paperback edition is. Kindle Deception. In Portrait, James uses the word "stupid" in the old-fashioned ways; tediously dull, or alternatively: dazed.
When I say that my Friday was stupid, I am being fully up to date in my vernacular. I mean stupid. As in the word sandwiched between "dumb" and "annoying" when you and your siblings insulted each other as children.
Now that that's clear, allow me to elaborate on the stupidity of my Friday.
1) My utilities bill had finally arrived in my mailbox. I wondered why it had taken so long. I showed my co-teacher (for translation purposes), and she told me it was my second notice, and it had a late fee. I had never received the first one. Also, I had no idea how to transfer the money to my landlord's account because online banking wasn't working because I needed to fill in my ARC number in order to open an account. Oh, and there's a $50 monthly management fee. Charming.
2) I couldn't call my landlord to explain my situation because I a) don't speak Korean, and b) didn't have any money left on my prepaid phone plan and didn't know how to charge it. (My co-teacher called for me and got it sorted out).
3) I got lost following directions to pick up my ARC (Alien Residence Card). The directions involved changing between buses and metro lines, and eventually exiting "near" the Immigration Office and staring at the photo of the building trying to match it to the ones around me. I didn't manage to do this, because it wasn't actually in sight.
4) I went into four different phone stores trying to switch my prepaid phone plan to a postpaid one. (I had a prepaid plan because you can't get postpaid until you have an ARC).
5) None of the service representatives in the phone stores spoke English, so we used an elaborate system of miming, sketches, and bilingual phone translators to talk. (This part was more fun than stupid until it lasted three hours).
6) Eventually it was discovered that I could not change my plan to postpaid because in my bank account, my ARC number does not match the one I received. This was not surprising, as I didn't open the bank account with my ARC. However, my passport number (which I opened my bank account with), also didn't match the information in my bank account information.
7) By the time we discovered #4, my prepaid plan had been cancelled. I was left without any sort of phone access. Making it impossible for me to call my bank the next day and ask what number I need to give the phone people for my bank information. The whole need a phone plan before you can get a phone plan conundrum.
8) I trekked back an hour to my apartment and bought some comfort food. Only to discover I had lost my Korean credit card for the second time in one week. As in, I had received the replacement card on Tuesday.
9) I walked to a phone store and had them call the phone store that was an hour away to see if they had my credit card. Yes. They did.
Buuuuut. On the bright side, I met lots of people who were very enthusiastic in their efforts to communicate with and help me. Out of the five Korean words I know, "Thank you" has been the most frequently used, with "Hello" being a close second.
The fun thing about saying hello in Korean is that you can pretend like you're in Arrested Development.
(Couldn't find the clip I wanted, but Lucille adopts a Korean boy to make Buster jealous and they all think his name is "Anyang" because that's all he says.)
**
I've been spending my free time making my way through some of the classics that I never read, and I'm currently in the middle of Portrait of a Lady. I had no idea of the magnitude of my undertaking until I went to a bookstore yesterday and saw how thick the paperback edition is. Kindle Deception. In Portrait, James uses the word "stupid" in the old-fashioned ways; tediously dull, or alternatively: dazed.
When I say that my Friday was stupid, I am being fully up to date in my vernacular. I mean stupid. As in the word sandwiched between "dumb" and "annoying" when you and your siblings insulted each other as children.
Now that that's clear, allow me to elaborate on the stupidity of my Friday.
1) My utilities bill had finally arrived in my mailbox. I wondered why it had taken so long. I showed my co-teacher (for translation purposes), and she told me it was my second notice, and it had a late fee. I had never received the first one. Also, I had no idea how to transfer the money to my landlord's account because online banking wasn't working because I needed to fill in my ARC number in order to open an account. Oh, and there's a $50 monthly management fee. Charming.
2) I couldn't call my landlord to explain my situation because I a) don't speak Korean, and b) didn't have any money left on my prepaid phone plan and didn't know how to charge it. (My co-teacher called for me and got it sorted out).
3) I got lost following directions to pick up my ARC (Alien Residence Card). The directions involved changing between buses and metro lines, and eventually exiting "near" the Immigration Office and staring at the photo of the building trying to match it to the ones around me. I didn't manage to do this, because it wasn't actually in sight.
4) I went into four different phone stores trying to switch my prepaid phone plan to a postpaid one. (I had a prepaid plan because you can't get postpaid until you have an ARC).
5) None of the service representatives in the phone stores spoke English, so we used an elaborate system of miming, sketches, and bilingual phone translators to talk. (This part was more fun than stupid until it lasted three hours).
6) Eventually it was discovered that I could not change my plan to postpaid because in my bank account, my ARC number does not match the one I received. This was not surprising, as I didn't open the bank account with my ARC. However, my passport number (which I opened my bank account with), also didn't match the information in my bank account information.
7) By the time we discovered #4, my prepaid plan had been cancelled. I was left without any sort of phone access. Making it impossible for me to call my bank the next day and ask what number I need to give the phone people for my bank information. The whole need a phone plan before you can get a phone plan conundrum.
8) I trekked back an hour to my apartment and bought some comfort food. Only to discover I had lost my Korean credit card for the second time in one week. As in, I had received the replacement card on Tuesday.
9) I walked to a phone store and had them call the phone store that was an hour away to see if they had my credit card. Yes. They did.
Buuuuut. On the bright side, I met lots of people who were very enthusiastic in their efforts to communicate with and help me. Out of the five Korean words I know, "Thank you" has been the most frequently used, with "Hello" being a close second.
The fun thing about saying hello in Korean is that you can pretend like you're in Arrested Development.
(Couldn't find the clip I wanted, but Lucille adopts a Korean boy to make Buster jealous and they all think his name is "Anyang" because that's all he says.)
My evening picked up. I went to dinner, phoneless and cardless, but still had an enjoyable meal. We watched the 23.30 showing of Hunger Games, and I slept at 3.30. Questionable life decision with my 6.30 wake up alarm, but I was actually quite perky on Friday, even if my socks were mismatched and I was pronounced as "looking pale" by Young Rak. This probably had more to do with my makeupless face than my lack of sleep. Thanks Young Rak.
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1 comments:
For some reason, this blog STRESSED ME OUT! Are you all sorted out now? Yikes. Love, Auntie B (posting as anonymous...just easier right now)
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