Monday, September 01, 2008

First weekend back in Gwangju


What a weekend! The picture you see above you was Friday night after the Kia Tigers beat the Woori Heroes 3 - 1. I went with my old buddy Min Ha. He actually won a prize with his ticket too! We checked what the prize was and it was a vacuum cleaner. He works for the vacuum cleaner department of Samsung. It was an LG vacuum. And he said it was an old model and not so good. Ha ha ha. Oh well. You get what you pay for.
Min Ha had plans after the game so I went out for sam gyup sal with Joo Il. He's the peace sign flashing Kia Tigers MC. Some of these other guys could speak a little English, and one guy spoke some Japanese with me too, but for the most part I had to try to use Korean or Charade the whole night with anyone but Joo Il. But it was still fun. By the time this pic was taken I was into the Baek Sae Ju. I'm raising a bottle of soju only because it was handy. I didn't have any of it. Yuck! But I tried a few new things. Raw cow liver and stomach was actually pretty good. I had some of that dipped in the gochujang and samjang. But let's be honest, raw skunk arsehole would be good dipped in samjang. I like samjang.
So after 10 beers at the game, (it was a long one. I usually have one an inning. Really? No.), three bottles of Baek Sae Ju with samgyupsal and assorted raw livestock vital organs it was time to go home. BUT WE DIDN'T! We went to a singing room! A bunch of gassed up guys singing, drinking, dancing and playing the tambourine. What could be more fun?
So after singing, (and I use that term loosely), for a little too long, drinking a little too much and starting to fall asleep it was time to go home. BUT WE DIDN'T! Somebody ordered a big fruit plate and we kept on wailing away! It was 4:30 or something when I finally got outta there. I took a taxi back to the dorm. It was locked. Last time I taught here at Seogang I had keys for the back door to use after hours. I didn't have the back door key yet. So I sat outside on the picnic table and fed the mosquitoes for who knows how long. The mosquitoes who sucked my blood probably died of alcohol poisoning but it's little consolation. It looks like I have the measles up to my knees.
I got really irritated because I was scratching all over, tired, and needed to use my bathroom so I sent my supervisor a text, "Why am I locked out of my room?" Shortly thereafter the caretaker came down and let me in. It was only 5:30 or so. I don't think they open at that time. So I thought Jung, (my supervisor), had called the guy and woken him up. But he called me today, (Monday), and said he had just read my message. Coincidentally I just got my key today too. So now I won't be locked out in the winter. Slowly getting settled...
I also went to the Irritation Office today. I mean the Tribulation Office. I mean, you know what I mean. If you read my last post you'll have guessed that they didn't give me any grief. And for once, they didn't. Well, that's not entirely true. The girl who two weeks ago demanded that I get a physical test along with the AIDS and drug tests was NOT the one who took my papers and without the physical they were perfectly acceptable. So obviously it was just something she had done to add a little hassle to my life. Typical. But the girl last week who took my papers didn't make me jump thru any of her own hoops and didn't ask me for pictures! So today I walked down to the Nausiation Office got my passport and alien card back and got wet. It was raining a bit. But it was a cool sprinkle so it made the walk more pleasant. When I left it was raining harder. But even the downpour on the way back couldn't ruin THAT walk. You know how you feel at quitting time before the long weekend? The time when you have the most free time until you have to work again? That's how I felt today! 350 days or so until I have to do this crap again! YEAH!!!
Here's a thinker. While walking long distances, and it's about an hour to the Aggrivation Office, I tend to think or even talk to myself. Today I was wondering why you need passport or alien card to do so many things in Korea. Some people get their passports stamped every time they send money home. I had to produce my passport while I was DEPOSITING Korean money into my Korean account one time! Yet, I was a week without both of them and all I needed to show to get BOTH was this little slip of easily reproduceable paper with nobody's signature, no fancy drawings, no watermarks, no holographic seal, nothing but typing. They have more official looking receipts to pick up your drycleaning! In that one week anyone with a beard, (cuz we DO all look alike to the people here, (Koreans say I look like Bruce Willis, Jesus, anyone who's ever had facial hair)), could have printed out the mickey mouse receipt for my passport and alien card, given it to them and I'd no longer be me!
Luckily THAT didn't happen. Although it might have been cool for a few days to not be me. I could have stolen a sports car, robbed a bank, freed some kennel dogs, streaked the senate, strangled the "Le Le Lemon" guy, done all kinds of things and nobody would know who had done them! It wouldn't have been ME!
However, today I got all my syllabuses printed out, made copies, planned lessons for the entire semester, printed out attendance for all my classes and now I'm totally prepared! It was ME that did all that so I want the pay. Luckily with my official documents I can PROVE it was me who did all that. I'll tell you Korea isn't the worst either. You are a piece of dirt without a passport in other countries too. Or money. As I found out the hard way. But that is another story. It's time to hit the hay. I'd stay up and see if Mike Weir wins the Deutsche Bank Championship but with all these students here using the internet it's ridiculously slow. I can't watch streaming video any more like Live@ on pgatour.com or the Daily Show or Colbert Report. I can't even watch episodes of Southpark on southparkstudios.com anymore. Unless the students are all gone. So I'll have to download everything now. And THAT is much slower too. Sometimes the gmail page is too much for my internet to handle for the love of God! But oh well, you get what you pay for.

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