So anyway, I had to set up a bank account. Bank accounts are very important in Korea. The phone company takes their payments directly from you account, the school wires your checks directly to your account, any kind of service I might have on my apartment would be subtracted from my account, so I needed to set up an account. The other problem, which is very exciting, and can make one feel fairly well off, is that the Korean Won is not printed in dominations larger the 10,000. The biggest bill you can get is the 10,000 won, which is roughly equivalent to about $10 dollars American.

Since I didn't feel like having a fairly large stack of Won sitting around my apartment (well not that large, but still) I thought it might be best to open an account sooner then later, and since I had some free time before class today I went for it.

I was told to go to the bank, walk in and look generally confused. The bank (Daegu bank) has an English speaking teller and if you go in and look generally confused someone will help you in English. So I walked in, looked generally confused and had three tellers greet me in Korea and ask what I can only assume is can I help you. I asked if anyone spoke English, which was again replied to in Korean. At that point I started to worry, as I really did need to get an account and had a 100,000 won on me. I continued to stand and look confused until finally the teller in the middle asked if she could help me in English.

I pulled out the passport and explained that I needed an account and she pulled out the form, in Korean, and helped me to fill it out. Everything went fairly well till she asked me for my phone number, which I still don't actually know (I know you can call, but I haven't memorized it yet, I admit). I pulled out my phone, hoping in some way this would help, to which I got several smiles, which I often get, and was then asked for my phone number. At this point I started to dig through my bag for anything with a phone number for St. Paul which I finally found, and handed to the teller, who was very happy.

The entire thing only took about 15 minutes or so, and I do have a bank book now, and a little bank card to use at the ATM. Of course, I can't read anything in Korean really yet (it all looks Greek to me, which is really bad) so I'm not necessarily falling all over myself to get money out of my account, even though I know eventually I will have to make a withdrawal. So, you will probably here about that as well.

On a final note, yesterday I was not feeling so hot, and since I didn't bring any Aleave, or other pain killing substance with me, I had to go to the pharmacist. I went armed with a note explaining that I had a headache and would like some drugs. I was given various drugs to take. I went back to the school and realized that I had been given Ibuprofen, which I can't take, and then had to go back and try to explain that I really just wanted some aspirin. It only took about three tries but I finally ended up with a small box of Bayer.

I suppose it could have been worse. Classes are going well, the kids are having allot of fun, and they all think I'm very silly, which I think is good. Today I acted out boring, awful, and terrible, and the students got quite a kick out of it. They particularly liked boring.