Vagueness, Randomness and Apple Love

I woke up on time today, to the sound of my alarm at 7:30am. I got up, had some breakfast, and made my way into Gwangju. I got there just after 10am, and walked to Geomho world, a place near the Bus Terminal in Gwangju, that is about 7 floors of heaven for people who want to buy anything electrical, musical, and house-ical. I've got some dust inside my iPod Touch, and wanted to see about getting it removed. But, not gonna happen. Basically, you can't open an iPod Touch. It's a sealed unit. When major "manufacturer defects" happen, they just replace. Dust getting inside isn't a manufacturer defect.

I hadn't been to the Apple store in a while, and I've been wanting to see and play with a Macbook Air, and today I did. It's a nice little mac. Small, light enough, and sexy. Basically, you're paying for the smaller size, with some sacrifices. Minimal ports available (video out, only one USB port and sound out). Had Wifi, Bluetooth, Camera and mic built in. It would be a great computer for someone who is away on business, and would use it when when out of town, and when coming back, sync everything back up to the main computer. Also would be a good computer for someone with some extra cash, who wants a good looking machine, but didn't want to do much, rather than just surf the net, some typing and keeping your occasionally snapped photo from your digital camera on there.

Anyway, while I was there, I bought a Time Capsule (English info, Korean info). Basically, its a kick arse Wireless Internet device, and an External hard drive in one. I was contemplating buying a Airport Extreme (English info, no Korean info, not available in Korea), which is the Time Capsule without the built in Hard Drive, but, like I said in the brackets, they're not available in Korea. Also, their power supply's aren't universal. The Time Capsule's is. I bought the 500Gb model, which is big enough. With the exchange rate as it is at the moment, a 500Gb Time Capsule is $60 cheaper for me here, compared to Australia. But, only an extra $100 for a 500Gb Hard Drive to be built in.


Anyway, after buying that (okay, it's my really really last big purchase until I go home!), i stopped to get some coffee at a coffee shop in the terminal, and to use some free Wifi, only to find out it was a bit shit. Wifi was a bit unstable. Stopped by the book store, and bought a "이지 (easy) 여행 일본어" (easy travel Japanese) book, for when I go to Japan.

I got home and installed my Time Capsule, but had a problem with the internet. One hour later, I had it fixed, only because i used Firefox, and not Safari, Apple's own browser. Basically, i had to log in to my ISP's site, so that I could use the internet, but Safari wasn't letting me do it (but I could log into various messenger apps). With that fixed, it was time to go to work.

I thought that I would have only 3 classes today. Normally I teach Middle school on Friday, but since they have mid-terms soon, I don't teach them. Normally, when this happens, I'm finished after my elementary classes are done, and nothing was said otherwise. I was meant to finish at 6:10. The boss asks me at 6:12 to do the other two classes that I would regularly do on Monday to Thursday, but with two of the kids missing in the first class (because they didn't know that this change would happen, so they didn't come. It was very last minute). Also, I get told that they have an "English Contest" at school on Wednesday and need to get them ready for that, and that Reading is the most important.

This is how vague and random working in Korea can be, and the regular argument that Foreign English Teachers will receive when they argue last minute changes, and vague ass instructions is "This is Korea. This is how we do things".

So, i just kept my cool, and said "thanks for letting me know so I can get organised.". It was sarcasm, which my boss took as a joke. I had only worked for 3 classes that day, so wasn't really gonna argue. I've been here for 2.5 years, and have just learned that this is how things are done in Korea, vaguely and randomly.

After the two classes, I checked with the boss what time he's coming to meet me tomorrow, because we have to go to some kind of seminar tomorrow. Another pointless waste of time for me and my job. A 2 hour seminal, in which this is the first time that foreign teachers have to attend, with a 2 hour lecture, that is going to be in Korean. The boss also hates going to them too. I would rather be in Jeongeup, doing Geomdo. But, the Geomdo teacher is gonna meet me in Damyang. He wants to buy some bamboo for cutting practice, and Damyang is the place for bamboo. They even had a Bamboo festival there every year.

I was glad to get out of work, and to get to a restaurant for dinner. I didn't have anything to eat since the coffee and cheesecake at 11:20am. Also, today is payday, so I sent a bit extra home to cancel out my "purchase" today. This month is gonna be tight, but i think it'll be okay. I'll be saving money for Japan this month and next month, and then after that, just saving money for being back in Australia.

46 days until Japan, 184-ish days until Australia