Reality Check

Today was my first reality check of living here in Korea.

This morning I was picked up by one of the managers from the school where he took me to the nearest bank to set up an account. I got my money converted and officially have a Korean bank account! Wahoo! Here I am with a few crisp Korean wons!


After the bank, my manager told me we would do the health check tomorrow which I was glad. I definitely could wait another day to get jabbed at by a needle. I attempted to call my mom at the 2 phone numbers she gave me to call and neither of them worked. Great. Now I was stuck in this 10x10 apartment with no internet, tv,phone, or any idea how to order some food! For those who know me, I do NOT do well without internet. Haha. My computer had no more battery life yet and I still hadn’t found a converter to use with it in hopes my mom would be able to help me in that department. So with nothing to do, I decided I would trudge outside into the city to see if I could find one myself. I went into every store near my apartment that may have looked like they sold electronics, I went to drug stores, and I went into places I didn’t even know what they were selling. Everyone thought I was crazy. Each Korean I spoke to went something like this:

Me: “Annyong haseyo! Do – you- have- converters?
Korean: “uh…..” *tilts head*
Me: “Korean to American plug” *does jabbing motion to illustrate plug*
Korean: “uh….” *does a goodbye waving motion*

One girl whipped out her cellphone which I am guessing had a translation feature and STILL didn’t know what I was talking about. I had read in my research about Ilsan that if you wanted to see Americans, your best bet would be to sit at Starbucks. Sure enough, I walked in and there was an American man with his Korean wife. Although it was refreshing to talk to someone who understood the words that were coming out of my mouth, he couldn’t remember where he got his converters at and didn’t know where else to tell me to look. I gave up and settled for a vanilla frappuchino and a cream cheese bagel.

I finished the Chelsea Handler book and am now onto Twilight ladies! I had only gotten a few pages in because the internet man finally came and installed my internet. Thank god! And get this- I explained to him that he wouldn’t be able to work on my computer because I had no power and didn’t have a converter to plug in. He said he would be right back and came back about 30 minutes later with converters that he said he went out and bought! I offered to pay but he refused. That is like the cable man coming in to set up your cables and realizes you need a surge protector and then runs out and buys one for you! Not only was I happy with the gesture but I finally have contact with the outside world now! Tomorrow is my appointment for the health check and hopefully I am able to see my mom.