A couple of factors combined to make the potential trip to Tokyo that I mentioned here unworkable. (Not the least, a great deal of uncertainty until, well, this morning about whether I’d need this or that or the other thing to get the code number I’m supposed to get in order to do my visa run.) Now I have stuff going on this week, stuff to get done, people to see and places to be — heh, even an orientation tomorrow, which will probably be several hours of incomprehensibility to whatever foreign profs actually make it there — so the …
Tag: expat
Hiking Boots?
I’ll be going to a mountain on Wednesday, as part of a very interesting workshop involving Korean SF writers and astronomers — oh, yes, a listening comprehension test three days long, which I’m already failing, but more about that afterwards — and I’ve been told it would be a good idea to have some hiking boots. I’ll be in Seoul tomorrow, and would be able to pick some up, except I have no idea where such things could be gotten — that is, winter boots, in “large size” (ie. 300, 305, 310, or bigger, depending on the brand). Apparently the …
Visa Run: Tokyo?
Okay, so Tokyo can be expensive, I know. But a guy I know from back in undergrad (yes, you Malcolm) suggested it probably wouldn’t be much more expensive to visit than Fukuoka or Osaka, and there is more to do in and around Tokyo. (And it turns out return flight tickets to Tokyo for mid-late February can still be gotten for about W300,000. Besides, some part of me would rather wander around in Tokyo, and maybe wander off to Kamakura or Minami-Alps (which my friends here have praised highly) or even just or Hakone, than to pass just a few …
You Have Nose Star Calipers? AKA Maybe I Should Practice Korean More?
Today’s fun conversation in Korean: ME: You have a nose star calipers?1. DOLLAR STORE CLERK2.: Huh? Nose star? ME: Yeah, you know. Nose star calipers.3. DSC: You mean a nose hair trimmer? ME: Uh… maybe. Nose hair? DSC: Yeah. Like, this? [Makes snipping motion.] ME: No, no. I mean like this… [Makes a buzzing noise, and spins finger round in a circle quickly.] DSC: Oh! Yeah, right over here. ME: What’s this called? DSC: A nose hair trimmer. ME: Ah. Right. Hair. Stars are in the sky, hair is in my nose. DSC: [With a giddy laugh.] That’s right. Shall …
Homeplus Update
Remember how I said they “fixed their website” to allow foreigners to register? Well, ordering is another matter, as I discovered after spending over an hour trying to get the damned order to go through. It’s not my card, because my card works with other sites. It’s something in the way their site handles cards. I imagine it just assumes the name on the card and the name on the national ID# are identical or something like that. Nobody bothered to think through the rest of the process when they “fixed” the website. So maybe they don’t want our business …
Homeplus, Do You Want My Business? UPDATE: Yes, It Seems You Do! (And Emart Too!) Er, Maybe Not?
UPDATE #2: You can register, but as of right now (24 January) you’re not going to be able to actually order. See here for more information, and further updates. It’s really pretty cool that foreigners can sign up for home delivery of groceries from Tesco/Homeplus. (It strikes me as a sad sign of how bloody low my expectations have sunk that I find it exciting and cool that the same commercial services available to everyone else in the country are made available to us. It’s so little trouble to make a site basically accessible, but so few companies do it. …
The Supreme Irony
Just a reminder, folks. If you’re here on an E-2 visa, it is indeed illegal for you to do editing work on the side. And from what I’m told, you don’t even need to be paid for it to be illegal enough for you to get into trouble: doing things on a volunteer basis still requires you to register with the local immigration office. (I had it direct from the Jeonju Immigration Office bigwig: even if you choose to volunteer at an orphanage, you need permission from your employer and you need to register with the Ministry of Justice — …
NCC-1492 and The Good Ship Daehan
This is part three in a series. You may wish to read the above links. If you don’t: Part 1 discussed reasons why so many expatriates complain about Korea. Part 2 seemed to rush off onto a tangent mostly focused on Iksan, a small city where I lived for a couple of years when I first arrived in Korea, and the unevenness of its development. I ended discussing a landfill crisis there, and describing how young locals were all dressed in their usual stunning finery, promenading serenely past barricades of trash bags blocking the sidewalk. Then, with promises to return …
The Mountain’s Just Not Enough Anymore
As I’ve recently mentioned, I’m saving my protests-related observations for an article, but Matt has a great post up here. And I say that not just because he links to my comments, either. Gusts of Popular Feeling is one of those kinds of sites I’d aspire to run something like if I wasn’t just so completely worn out with/by/about Korea these days. This post has been, in part, inspired indirectly by things he and Joe Mondello have had to say of late, for their interest, engagement, and apparent happiness here. The contrast has shocked me into reflection, and the reflection …