| I think the bank teller cheated me out of 8000w ($5). One of our phone bills was due today, so I paid all the bills for the month. I always do this: Every month I pay all the bills on the day that Korea Telecom is due; I never pay the late fee when I pay on the due date. Today the lady made me pay the late fee. I didn't have the language skills to protest convincingly, so I just forked over the money. |
Dark and raining today. Chilly too. I walked like a frozen stick outside. I put up the umbrella, even when it had stopped raining just to remain more hidden from view.
In other news:
Wednesday, South Korea’s new President was inaugurated. I was oblivious, but caught news clips in the evening. I wish I had known about it beforehand - like a week - not just about the inauguration, but the parade and festivities. The parade consisted of people in traditional dress and people playing traditional music. Would’ve been a cool thing to see. The English language newspapers are so bad about informing the public of upcoming events.
Michael Jackson was here for the inauguration. That guy! Apparently the Korean government is wooing him shamelessly because he has expressed interest in investing mucho dollars into a failing ski resort down south. The resort is supposed to be beautiful. It's an exact replication of a real Austrian mountain village, I heard from a guy who works for the Austrian Embassy here. So, there is Michael Jackson, in all his weirdness, in the midst of all these stuffy looking Korean politicians. The news is showing pictures of him eating fancy dinners, stuff like that. I wonder what they think of him? His clothes are weird, his make-up so thick. Usually he has a long strip of stringy hair hanging over his face. He plays with it to make it behave. Weird.
One of Dave’s long lost Army buddies, Dale, has been in town the last week. He speaks Korean also and is now a salesman for a company selling semiconductor testers. That means big business in Asia; and big business means "entertaining". So, this guy drops $3000 at a bar where women are paid to sit next to each guy, pour their drinks and whatever. Dale really gets off on all this corporate partying and hopes to live out the rest of his days as an expat in Asia, entertaining in exclusive clubs where skinny young women serve and stroke men while his own wife and kids sit at home. Dale is sleazy. Round body, round bald head, a real player of the old boys game that so disgusts me. Asia to him and his kind is one big sick male fantasy land, maybe like Las Vegas used to be but with less taste, and more money. He is always asking me about staying. Like, he doesn’t understand that I want to do my own thing, and he doesn’t understand that Dave doesn’t want to do what he does. Dave is not at all into the slimy business world of Asia. Straight up, on deck dealing is what Dave likes, not business deals sealed over whiskey and women’s bodies. So, he keeps asking me weird, vague questions about why can’t I pursue something in Asia? Could I see myself living in another country besides Korea? It’s as if he’s trying to strike a deal with me, get me to buy some junky car. And then to Dave: Dude, all of us (Army buddies) will end up in Asia! As if we wanted to live here permanently. It’s creepy. My words fail to describe the aura. I’m glad he’s gone.
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