Day 62: ARC and Emergency Drill

This was a hectic day.

Today Celine and I had our new appointment at the Seoul Immigration Office (서울 출입국관리사무소). Like I mentioned in my previous post, all foreigners, whether they have a visa or not, most register for an Alien Registration Card, if they plan to stay in Korea for more than 90 days.

The office is located near Omokgyo station (오목교역), on the other side of the river, and since our appointment was around 14.00, we had set ourselves up for a day off from Korean class.

Our appointment went much more smooth than we had expected. So smooth that we went back to the English speaking guys, who helped us last time, and had them confirm that we didn't have to do anything else.

Nope, next thing we have to do is pick up the card again around mid November.

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I've had a friend asking me what we needed to get our cards made so here's a short list of what we brought. I can't speak for everyone and say that this is 100% the only things you'll need but this is what we turned in and that was enough:

Application form (found on their website)

Passport

Passport photo (1 piece)

30000₩ (South Korean Won=

Certificate of residence (confirmation from dormitory)

Certificate of enrollment (came with admission packet sent from our host university)

Medical diagnosis (Tuberculosis test)

Copy of personal info page/visa page of passport (Can be made at the office. Costs 1000₩). 

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The weather was really neat today, sunny but with a fresh breeze. To tell the truth, we could still make it home in time for class but decided to enjoy the weather and sit down outside to enjoy the melon bread we'd bought on our way to the office. After we finished eating, I started paying attention to the two middle Eastern-looking dudes in an electric blue car parked next to the sitting area we were in. Thinking back, they had been there for a least a couple of minutes, like 5 minutes, but I hadn't paid much attention to them before one of them, the one sitting with him arm out the window, smoking, called out to us as we got up from the bench. Coincidentally, we'd just been trash-talking smoking.

Have you ever felt like you could tell someone's intentions from the way they looked at you?

Have you had someone direct that one specific stare, where you can sort of tell how people are undressing you with their eyes, at you?

Yea.

As we got up from the benches, the ones with the arm out started calling out to us with words like: "Ey pretty girls!" or something. But not in a complimenting way. This was in an objectifying way.

We ignored it.

But they didn't stop! As we were walking towards the entrance, the guys put the car in reverse and followed us while continuously trying to get our attention. We, in return, brutally ignored them while having a loud conversation about how we disliked that sort of behavior. There were other foreigners and possibly Koreans around but that didn't stop them. Had they no shame?

As we were walking out, they drove out onto the road, slowly following us, and stopped in front of the crosswalk that we'd have to cross later. Nah. We weren't interested in having to go near them again and just stood somewhere they couldn't see us as we waited for the light to turn green so they'd drive away.

Pshh. Disrespectful. I'll accept a compliment but not tolerate cat-calling like this.

After this, on our way back to the station, we went into a supermarket to look around and we found some relatively cheap bananas!

Some of the moments I can truly feel that I'm in a different part of the world is whenever I'm in a Korean supermarket. They assortment is just different. The fruit and vegetables, for example, are bigger. Look at these giant grapes!

 Celine mentioned how she wished you could buy that many different types of mushrooms in Denmark.

How about a pre-peeled, vacuum packed potato or two? Or a bag of pre-peeled garlic?

Their meat section differs a bit too. There's a lot more fish to find here. Oh and they had live mussels!

 And some of their meat was accompanied by pine nuts.

Or how about some chips with banana flavor?

 I took this picture mostly to show one of the little perks here in Korea that I probably already take for granted because I've been living here for 'so long' already. Automatic doors with these black things that you push in order to open them. They don't make much of a different now but on cold days, these doors must be a blessing to the people working on stores. They're amazing at keeping the cold out.

Another thing that we've gotten used to but which still fascinates me are the tiny tiny cars that we see here. Look how small this one is compared to the girl!

 Once we left the store, we passed an older lady and two young children. They said something over and over but it wasn't after the 3rd time or so that we realized that they were looking at us and saying "이쁘다 이쁘다" (ibbeuda = pretty).

Celine didn't know the meaning of the word and I got so flustered that all we did was awkwardly laugh, smile, and bow.

But it was a really sweet moment and totally made up for the experience we had with those dudes.

After a quick stop in a nearby accessory store, we returned to our dorm.

Since we'd gone to Omokgyo today, I'd made dinner plans with a friend, who lives nearby. I had to return to the dorm first, though, because I'd promised Wonjun (원준) to collect money for the Halloween party tickets from two girls. 

I was getting dressed and putting on make-up when I heard a ringing sound. First I thought it was Celine watching a video but she looked confused when I asked her what she was doing. She thought the sound was coming from my computer and next thing we know, the announcement speaker went off in Korean followed by an English speaking voice telling us something along the lines of "Attention please. This is an emergency. Please leave the building through the nearest exit." and then it was cut off.

My immidiate thought was: "Okay North Korea is bombing us."

But no.

Slightly shaken and a bit more confused, we grabbed our bags, joined up with the other girls from our floor, and walked down the stairs. When we finally arrived in the lobby, a bunch of confused students were standing around.

It had been a drill.

..

...

......It would have been nice with a warning before or something.

No one really reacted after that so we just went back up to our rooms.

Because of this, I was running late and had to hurry and get ready. One of the girls, who was supposed to come by with money didn't come before I had to leave. I felt bad that I had to ask Celine to take care of it but she did. So thank you and sorry, Celine :((

When I got to Omokgyo, the wifi was limited so my friend, 득수 (Deuksu), and I spent a while looking for each other.

It was my first time meeting him in person and on top of the lasting shock from the drill, I was not prepared mentally to speak Korean. But Deuksu could speak close to no English at all so I was forced to try. And fail. On top of that he spoke super fast (;;⚆ × ⚆ )

We had fun though! Time flew and before I knew it, it was time to go home so I could receive money for the Halloween party ticket from another girl. But we were in mid conversation when I'd looked at my phone and then I forgot about it. When I finally remembered that I should be going back home, it was too late to take the subway and I had to take a taxi.

I got home super late and when I did, the taxi driver let me off at the back of the dorm, where I'd never been. At first I thought I was lost but found out my location thanks to the offline map I downloaded. Seriously, always download an offline map if you plan to go overseas. It's super worth it.

Celine and Wonjun had taken care of the tickets and collecting money from people when I returned so all was good. I'd had absolutely no wifi in Omokgyo once I'd left the station so I had been super worried about it.