Direct Effect

Day 21

Immigration Office Day: Foreigner I.D.


I wake up.

I go out the door, I go back in the door, grab my I.D. photos, I go out the door.

I hail a taxi. "Anny-esseyo, Gimcheon Yeok, ju-seyo. Nayy," and we're on our way to Gimcheon Station.

I speed-walk into the station at 8:21 a.m. to buy a ticket.

I am on a train at 8:37. The correct train.

I begin to organize my things and realize that my passport, a crucial element in the morning's events, is not with me. I know exactly where it is. In my apartment. But, it's too late, I'm on the train. I send a message to my boss, who will be waiting to pick me up in Daegu Station at 9:20 a.m.

She picks me up with the native teacher for her school in Daegu in tow. Jeff is also getting a foreigner I.D. today. Mrs. Lee is efficient with her time.

We go to the immigration office, we fill out forms, she does her amazing magic talk to the government employees and they agree to letting me apply anyway, she will return with my passport the next morning.

It all happens within 30 minutes. Perhaps the shortest wait in a government office in my history. Most of that time is spent with Jeff watching American Baseball on some sports channel and me pretending to read.

She takes us to Costco (here???yes. here.) for pizza and a Bulgogi Bake. Jeff informs me of a Chicken Bake back in the states and asks rhetorically "Why isn't it cheaper here? it's like $2.00 back at home, it should be like W 1,500 here, food is so cheap..."

I watch a little girl kick a woman in the shins and run behind her mother's legs. They're all friends. It's okay.

Mrs. Lee and I drop Jeff off near his apartment in Daegu and move on to pick up her sister. I am attempting to make conversation with her (her English is not quite fluent) at a stop light when we are rear-ended. It's not bad, a fender-bender with a grandma, no one is hurt. She gets out and they exchange information, we continue on our way to pick up her sister and drive to Gimcheon.

The day counts as "long" before I even start teaching.
I skip yoga and grab a beer with Young-Mee (Veronica) after work.

Day 22

The 2nd Presidential Debate held in Nashville, TN on Tuesday, Oct. 7 was viewed live, by yours truly on Wednesday, Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. I watched it(perhaps like many of my compatriots...how many?)at nytimes.com . I've been attending each of the debates in a similar manner. I figure that this was worth mention.

"Oh, pork barrels."

Maybe "pork-barrels" can become the new "fiddlesticks".

Direct (economic) Effect: with the fall of the dollar, there has been a decline in the inflow of foreign currencies to South Korean markets. The value of the Won is sharply falling in conjunction with the dollar...the dollar deficit has driven the value of the Won down so much that I have taken an automatic $400/month pay cut in the past week, actually in the first several days of the past week.
I will simply wait and exist within the local (South Korean) economic market until the heaving and ho-ing of the world financial sector eases a bit.

Night number 2 of skipping yoga to go get a beer...this time I meet my fellow foreigners in Gimcheon. Danny, middle-aged U.S. citizen who has been in South Korea for years. He has a dog. He rides a motorbike. Matthew, a Briton who has been living in South Korea for eight (?) years, in Gimcheon since the Spring, also rides a motorbike. Nicole and Mark, I've previously met. They're from New Brunswick, Canada. She lives in Gimcheon and teaches at Gimcheon College along with Matthew and Danny. Mark lives in a nearby city. A larger city.

Day 23

I meet with my friend, Myeong Hee in the morning. She brings her mother's Sesame Leaf Kimchi** when she picks me up and we go to a bookstore, where she helps me select a children's "learning to write" book so that I can learn to read and write Hangul. The book is good; the images in the book are photographs, the words will be very useful in everyday life. She and I then had our first Hangul lesson in a nearby coffee shop. It was good, it will be a beneficial weekly event on multiple levels. Getting together with her outside of yoga and during the daytime, learning and practicing Hangul, getting out during the morning and doing something enjoyable before work...good things.Positive motion. I've decided to start doing yoga every other day in the morning, every other day at night. Positive motion. Hiking the trail behind my house to have hula-time at the top. Positive motion.

everyone needs a mantra.

**my sentiments are much the same as those presented in the link. I had it upon arrival in Korea and then I was a little unsure, but man, really. So good.

Day 23

Persimmons are turning color from yellow to orange/red.
I dream that I emailed a friend. In the afternoon she writes me.
I dream I reply...today I discover that I did neither.

Day 24

Oh, Friday! Morning yoga proves more rigorous than evening. I feel it for the rest of the day. After work, Young-Mee and I meet with Bruce, the traditional medicinal practitioner for soup and a beer.

Something I must mention about Korean restaurants: it is not unusual for the waiter to bring a campstove-like-thing to the table. Frequently, there is small gas range built into the table. The server brings the dish out in a pan, which has curved sides, but is not quite a pot, and lights the range. The dish is brought to a simmer before being served and eaten by people at the table. Quite convenient as far as hot food getting cold goes.

Day 25

I spent the morning cleaning up after the weekly destruction of my home. Not destruction, really...just...you know, wear. The afternoon was golden. New crispness in the air along with the smell of burn-piles. Clear skies and a yellow ginko tree called me into the outside. I was inspired to go to Jikji-sa, a temple and temple grounds just outside of Gimcheon, one of the oldest in S.Korea, actually. I was thwarted by the bus line.
But that's O.K.!! I walked downtown and wandered through small streets. I took a turn into a corridor where I felt called to pause...in front of a clothing store. "Anneyeseyooo," I heard. "Hi!" when they realized that a foreigner was standing in front of the store window.
"Do you speak English (oh please oh please oh please)?!?"
"Aneyo..."
"A little??" accompanied by pantomime.
"Anneyo..."
"Okay, can I look?" again with much pointing and gesturing. The women nod and I enter the store. The clothes! I want to wear those clothes instead of the ones I have on. Everyone here is stylish. The clothes I opted to bring: catchall, non-descript, very plain clothes, are starting to bore me. I motion this sentiment, gesturing the length of my arms and legs, and the general large size that I am in comparison to the average Korean woman. We laugh together as they are astonished, really, when I stretch out my arms.
They make efforts to speak with me, and I use my very limited Hangul to speak with them. I am invited to sit. Our ages are given, and I am the same age as the shop owner. They invite me to eat with them. Kim Mi Mi is the shopkeeper of "Betty" "Because I am very cute! ah?? Like Betty(Boop)! Yes??" And she is. Truly.
"Come back today! Come back tomorrow! Come back forever! I am English Master! You Hangul Master!"

I made friends.

Today was a good day.