Things I Never Thought…

Yes, I know I’ve been quite un-post-ish for the past . I’ve been enjoying a fantastic trip home, but thought I’d better sit down and share with you some precious moments from my conversations with my niece and nephew. Over the past week, I’ve said some things I never thought I’d say. I’m particularly amazed that each utterance was actually context appropriate.

1. “Logan, watch where you’re pointing that unicorn.” This was spoken only seconds before the inflatable unicorn Logan won at the fair found its way into the unsuspecting crotch of a man walking by.

2. “Kaitlyn, I’m having trouble throwing a cotton-ball at the dolphin with a unicorn in my hand.” What, you can’t figure out the context of this one? We were playing cotton-ball baseball using the inflatable fair prizes as bats, of course.

3. (My personal favourite.) “Logan, please don’t lick my cheese bag.” That one’s pretty straight forward, and means exactly what it says.

Adventures in Murphy and His Dumb Law…

Most of the time, my experiences with the service industry in Korea have been quite pleasant. These past couple of weeks though have sent my angry “Grrrrrr-o-Meter” soaring.

Episode 1:
I went downtown to Cell-Phone Alley with my friend HeeJin to get a new cell phone. It’s a whole street lined with shops that sell cells. They all look pretty much the same, and sell exactly the same phones. The first shop we entered showed me a model with the features I wanted (English menu, Korean-English dictionary) and told me it would cost $192. The second shop we entered flatly said they wouldn’t sell a phone to a foreigner. The third shop said they could terminate my contract with my current company (even though the phone was in a Korean friend’s name), sign me up with a new company, and give me a new (very sweet) phone for free!

Competition between the 3 major cell phone companies is so stiff, that they’re giving new phones away for free if people change carriers. Needless to say, I switched carriers, got a snazzy new phone…and discovered the next day that it didn’t have a dictionary. Since that was the only feature I’d actually asked for, HeeJin called the shop to report the problem. We were told to bring it back sometime that week and exchange it, so we made the 1.5 hour trip (one-way) on Wednesday night, only to have the guy tell us the promotion was over for the month, and he couldn’t do anything about it until June. Luckily, June started on Friday. We made the trip again on Saturday, only to discover that in order to get another phone, I’d have to switch carriers again…to a company that won’t let a foreigner have a phone in their own name.

To make a loooooong, frustrating story short, I now have another new phone, with the company I started with, and still not in my name.

Whew, that story took longer than I thought. Episode 2 will have to wait. (Episode 2 is also not resolved yet, so I might wait until the story has an ending.)

Adventures in two completely unrelated things…

The Daegu University Student Spring Festival just wrapped up last night. On the main stage during the evening was what Tracy assured me was a ‘spinning’ demonstration. Since the only spinning I know involves a wooden wheel and sheep shavings, what was happening on the stage looked more like synchronized stationary bike pedaling. I can’t believe people do that for fun/exercise/entertainment. Since I’m not a big fan of stationary bikes to begin with, I can’t imagine combining such an activity with my complete lack of rhythm and coordination. Dancing and cycling…the worst of both worlds!!

The other thought I had was while I watched (Yes, I’m sorry to say I did watch) the season finale of The Bachelor. I was thinking, “If the Bachelor was filmed in Utah, would he really have to choose between the final two contestants?” Couldn’t he just marry ’em both? Something the network might want to think about. (Or something Fox could pick up. Or is it already on Fox? I have no idea.)

It’s a lovely day today, and a holiday to boot, so I’m going to pull myself away from the computer and finish my coffee on the balcony.