Seoul Busy These Days
Not exactly true… actually the school year starts again in two days. I’ve got a new partner teacher, he seems nice but I hate change. My middle school partner teacher was the best of the lot that I work with. So he’s got big shoes to fill. I wonder if they partner me up at the others schools… It’d be great if they did. My other partners are all nice and we get along well, but they all have other administrative duties, so getting non-class time to work together is a challenge. I just got my big fat check, the bonus check. Already most of it is spent on account of the university tuition, and my new KOREAN VISA CARD!
Before anyone out there in cyberspace starts clucking; I had to put a 1,000,000 won guarantee on the card, and it’s only as good as my account balance. In other words, it’s a debit card masquerading as a visa card. The main reason to get the card is for the ‘T-money’. Which means I can use my card to ride the bus/taxi/subway everywhere in the country. It eliminates the need for cash. I can also do online stuff more easily, ie flight and train reservations. At the end of the year I can get my million back as well, so that will be like another bonus!
For the past couple of days I’ve been working on setting up photo slideshows, there’s a lot of tinkering involved. It’s not like I’m programming myself, but I’m mostly just experiment with different plugins to see how they look. Hopefully soon I’ll have something to put up. K’s cousin also arrived in Korea two days ago, it’s fun to watch K in times like these, she’s excited to be the one who knows where to go and what to do. Her cousin probably feels overwhelmed with trivia, facts, and tips on living over here, but it’s a phase we all go through. It’s also fun to have an excuse to go out to different places to eat, drink (cola), and be merry.
2 Replies to “Seoul Busy These Days”
Note: the regular T-money card works just as well as a Visa in terms of the 100 won discount and free transfers. Also, cash is king in most small markets or mom-and-pop shops. Even larger places like the Yongsan Electronic Market will quote you a cash price and a credit card price to cover their transaction costs.
You’re absolutely right. The T-money card is a good investment, doesn’t work on the Daejeon subways though, that requires another Transit card, and I’m not really interested in buying cards for different cities. Also you are dead on about the cash, my comment was regarding cash for travelling. My logic for this card was saving money (1,000,000 W plus interest comes back to me when I leave Korea), convenience of less cards, online domestic purchases, and getting an interest-free period on a couple of big ticket items down the road. Anyways, the cards definitely aren’t for everyone, but it’s good for me and my lifestyle these days.