Guess What?!

In Korea you can't really do anything until you have your alien resident card (like a green card in the US). You can't sign any sort of contract, so there's no way to get a cell phone or open a bank account or get internet in your home. We applied for our alien cards just a few days after we got here, but they didn't get here until yesterday. After school I helped a few students who had math questions and then Haley and I hiked over to the nearest branch of the expat bank. Except, it turns out that that "branch" is a couple of ATM machines (though they're fancier here and do more things). The gentleman in the business next door told us about another branch with real people in it, about 10 minutes away. Except it was already 3:50 on a Friday afternoon and banks close here at 4! Well, we walked very, very quickly, and made it to the bank just as they were closing. They graciously let me in and helped me open an account. Yay! So now I have a purple debit card :) It will be nice to have an account that is in the same currency that I am spending; it gets hard to keep track of my expenses otherwise. Hopefully my school will be able to direct deposit my paycheck -- that would make things very simple :)

Anyhow, we then ambled back to school and asked Miss Jin (one of the secretaries) to help me set up internet at home. She was able to find me a good deal *and* to set up an appointment for Saturday! So the internet guy just came and we are online!!! I am posting this from my home!!! I brought my Airport Express router with me, so both Haley and I are wirelessly on the internet right now :) :) :)

Anyhow, this is excellent because I will be able to Skype people in the morning before school, and not be doing it during my prep periods when I'm too busy to hold a good conversation :p So feel free to give me a call around 3pm Pacific time :)

My next thing will be to get a cell phone. I'm holding out for an iPhone for my permanent cell phone, but I figure I can get a cheap flip phone and give it to Haley when I get my iPhone :)