I’ve been in Gwangju for over a week now. I’ve mostly been keeping to my little corner of the city (Wolgye-dong, Gwangsan-gu), but I have been on guided tours (thank you, Emily and Jason) of downtown, the bus terminal shopping area, and parts of Seo-gu.
I am now equipped with a bus charm and a bus map. The map is from 2009 and is entirely in Korean, so it’s not as helpful as it could be, but it is helping me find routes to my desired destinations. It is certainly more helpful than the city bus website, which is not only in Korean, but is also not user friendly. Even when I can understand the Korean I can’t make the darned site do what I want! Ditto for the bus app on my phone.
Speaking of my phone, I got mine last Monday. My hogwan had actually provided me with a temporary cell phone, which was nice, but I was glad to get my own. I am the proud owner of a Pantech Sky Vega X Plus smartphone, which is fully capable of internet, calls, and texting. Typing in Korean is also available on my phone which is really helpful, especially for the dictionary app.
My apartment leaves something to be desired. It is tiny (and I mean tiny), but that’s okay. What is not so okay is the lack of furniture and other items that would qualify it as a “fully furnished accommodation” as per the contract requirements. Thankfully, the day after I arrived, Emily came bearing gifts of necessities such as a chair, a toaster oven, toilet paper, paper towels, and dishes. We went to church (which turned out to be a special joint service of the Korean, Chinese, and English services, so we had to use a translation device) and then she took me shopping so that I could get some groceries and a pot, a pan, and a kitchen utensil. Funnily enough, a stove range doesn’t do you any good if you have no food and no cookware. I did talk to the director of my hogwan about the situation (through a Korean English teacher, since the director doesn’t speak much English) and he agreed to get me a table and a chair and he gave me W100,000 (a bit less than $100) to purchase the rest of what the apartment needs. Needless to say, that money won’t even come close to covering the cost of what the apartment should have in it, but I plan to take anything over that amount with me when I move out.
I went for the foreigner check up that I need to get my Alien Registration Card (ARC), which I need to open a bank account. It was quite an adventure as the hospital my hogwan sent me to does not have staff who are fluent in English. I felt so bad for the poor guy (a nurse, maybe, or some other medical-type person) who ended up guiding me around the hospital. He spoke a tiny bit of English (more than my few words and phrases in Korean), but it was still difficult enough for us to communicate that I ended up calling one of my Korean co-workers. After getting weighed, having my height, bust, hearing, eyesight, and blood pressure tested, and then getting a chest X-ray (for what purpose, I have no idea), my blood drawn (which went excellently; I practically felt nothing when the technician stuck me), and a pee-in-a-cup test (I believe for the purposes of checking for marijuana, which is highly illegal in Korea), I was sent on my merry way but told to come back tomorrow after 11 AM and bring two passport photos. I was under the impression that I would only need passport photos for the immigration office forms, but maybe they do that in the hospital. Who knows.
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