My previous entry being titled WTF?!?!? I find this an appropriate title. Turns out the network for my bank was down all night and wasn’t fixed till this morning. I managed to get some money out but then was told I had insufficient funds to take out more than $300. Meanwhile, on the phone I’m told I have over $2000 in my account. Puzzling. Ah well, I have some money, I know it’s gettable, so there’s gonna be no last-minute rush flight home, no desperate rushing and freaked out problems. Best of all, I have the foreigners’ service center number, …

Yeah, so the bank card that worked perfectly find in India, at several bank machines no less, is not working at all, in any machines, in Toronto. I have no idea why, since it worked in both Thailand and in India, and I’m told it works in Australia too (I think). And I’d wager it works in Canada and the USA, officially. Anyway, I came to an Internet cafe which I know is staffed with Koreans, and when the English part of the Woori Bank webpage refused to load, I got some help finding the phone number of both the …

I walk into a PC-Bang (er, “Internet Cafe”) and the girl behind the counter looks in shock when I ask for a PC with hangeul installed. She looks at me funny and I tell her I want a PC with “Korean” installed. She still doesn’t quite get why I would ever want that, until I say that I live in Korea, and may get email containing some Hangeul. “I’m Korean, you know! I am surprised…” she says with a curious, amused look. I wonder, is that how she would have looked at me if it’d been her in the PC-Bang? …

Right, I’m in Toronto now and I just got the info I was looking for in terms of cheaper accomodation, so I’m go to leave this PC-Bang (and, staffed by Koreans, for all of the Toronto slickness it is still a PC-Bang) and go call and see if there’s room at the inn. Prices for accomodation in Toronto are ridiculously high. Argh! I forgot so much about North America. Ah well… for those expecting email I’ll probably get to you tomorrow or the next day.

…about to leave…. 1.5 min left on my PC… coming to Toronto today… so if I’m out of touch that’s why… my girls’ the best, she phoned me last night (I think t make sure I caught my bus, though I missed her call) and while I was on the bus we messaged a few times as well… miss her already, but it’s only 3 weeks… checked my bags and the last thing to do is get some money and change it… and then I’m off! Everyone in Korea, I’ll be back in 3 weeks. Later!

There’s a writing contest about life in Korea on right now. So check it out. I don’t think I’ll get a chance to submit this year, I forgot to check the date months ago and now, seeing as I’ll be traveling and all, I don’t think I’ll have time. Huh. Ah well. Maybe some bored afternoon in Montreal, if I can find a PC for a couple of hours.

The other day, as I cycled around the city getting my last errands done, I passed a group of middle school boys. (Or maybe high school freshmen, I’m not sure.) Two of them were on bikes and one on foot. When I passed, on my bicycle, the pedestrian among them happened to look up and saw me, and I heard him say, “와, 외국인이다! FUCK!” (Oooh, it’s a foreigner! FUCK!) A few months ago I might just have kept cycling on, but lately I’ve gotten to the point where the little venomous bits of racism get to me enough that …

Whew. The President of the University has, I’m told, approved the continuance of the housing stipend for foreigners in the employ of Jeonju University. (Read: He’s decided it’s unfair to discontinue the provision of a stipend in order to force foreign teachers into on-campus housing.) This means we have a choice of either living on campus, or plunking down several thousand dollars (which we’ll get back after a year) for the deposit on an apartment, the rent for which is usually about as much as the stipend the University is offering. This is a worse deal than when I started, …