Keep Calm and Carry On

I have been avoiding writing about this.  After publishing this, I will either eat these words, or they will be just one more marker about how pathetic the whole affair is.  Naturally, I hope that it will be the latter.  Like I was saying, as anyone who has been watching the news can see, our neighbor to the north has been saying and doing some rather loud and obnoxious things.  I know that many of you back home are wondering how we are doing and I have spoken to many of you already.  However, I think it high time that I post something publicly, given the latest events that have happened both internationally and personally. 

We’re fine and I am not afraid. 

That’s about as plainly as I can say it, and there are a lot of reasons why.  Before I get into that, here is a short summary of everything that has been happening.  North Korea’s newest head of the party Kim Jung Un (no, he isn’t the head of state, that honor is reserved for Kim Il Sun, his long dead grandfather…yes their head of state is a dead man) has been stirring up trouble by conducting an underground nuclear test, launching a long range missile, declaring the armistice (there was no peace treaty) between the South and themselves null and void, and just yesterday told both the foreign missions in their own borders and the expats living in South Korea to get out of dodge by the 10^th.  Basically, they have done everything short of actually massing troops at the border to prepare for war.  I am not worried, and neither are most of the locals. 

Things have been escalating for a long time since Kim Jung Il died.  Not to say that things were pink butterflies and rainbows before that, in fact there were 2 major incidents in 2010 including the sinking of a South Korean Ship and the Artillery attack on a border island.  Take a look here for a full list of incidents.  And yet, I am not worried about a war breaking out. 

Is there still a chance of one breaking out?  Sure, but even then I feel perfectly safe here.  Korea is similar to Israel with mandatory military service for all men (I know Israel includes women, while South Korea does not). Sure, the North has virtually every person in their country as a potential member of the military, but remember that they had a recent famine and that South Korea has 3 times the population.  This is not including the 50,000 American forces that are stationed here, and the recent declaration by Japan that they would start deploying forces to be ready for anything. 

Any outbreak of violence will not end with North Koreans doing well in the end.  The only factor that could make this whole situation a lot worse is China.  Should they choose to come in on the side of their traditional ally, then this could be a problem.  However, that seems highly unlikely.  Consider that China even joined in on the most recent round of trade sanctions.  Moreover, China has suffered greatly for the majority of the last century.  Their people are tired and want a measure of stability, and the Chinese government is doing something about it.  This is perhaps the only thing that has prevented the pro-democratic riots from breaking out again since the famous Tiananmen Square Massacre.  Back when President G.W. Bush was looking for easy cash to help finance his tax cuts and the two very expensive wars waged in Iraq and Afghanistan, China was happy to provide support by buying US treasury bonds.  China is heavily invested in the status quo, not only internally, but internationally as well. 

The big question is why are they doing all this?  The simple answer (as I have come to see it) is this, internal North Korean politics.  Kim Jung Un is trying to stir up tension, so that he can look strong and aggressive to the Generals and the party elites.  Not much has gone beyond rhetoric.   

On Monday I heard that one of my last co-workers from Avalon has decided to head home.  This was mostly in response to the North’s decree that all foreigners had get out of the South Korea.  A lot of people are torn up about that, including Emma herself, her students, and many others.  I and the vast majority of others that I know here are staying right where we are. 

For years we have heard empty threat after empty threat.  Most of the locals feel as I do, that the North is using the most powerful weapon that they have, fear.  They have lived under this possibility, with skirmishes happening here and there for nearly 60 years.  This time is no different save one thing.  The North is partially cognizant of how foolish they look. 

Below is a clip of a North Korean expert I found on an Aussie News network, enjoy. 

http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2013/s3727471.htm

The Usual Suspects

With a full week down at the new job, I can safely report that I think we have hit the gold mine.  As I mentioned in the previous post, our apartment is amazing, especially for Korean standards.  Rachel and I thought it appropriate to offer Mr. Yang (our most magnificent handler) a bottle of fine imported liquor.  OK, so it was a bottle of Jack, but yet it’s a luxury here. 

Now, after a week I have gotten a good idea as to the characters that surround us.  Keep in mind that we haven’t started working yet.  What we do have is around 2 months or so to plan and write our curriculum.  So instead of classroom antics or dealing with students, we have settled into something resembling a more traditional office setting.    Allow me to take you on a journey through the cast of characters that make up our office. 

The Man with The Golden Watch:  Our owner, whom we have only seen once, screams money.  What he said was that he wanted the best education that money could buy for his daughter, so like anyone who has too much damn money, he did the most logical thing, and built a goddamn school.  Not that I am complaining, but jeez, talk about pressure.

The Well-Manicured Man:  Below the owner is our man who runs the day to day operations of the business.  Like the owner, he screams money, and style.  Seriously, I envy him for dressing as well as he does.  I am fairly certain that his cufflinks alone cost more than my car.  Clad in his finely tailored suits (no tie), magnificently wavy hair, and more often than not a matching scarf, he screams class.  Even with all his class and cash, he is a really nice guy.  His son is going to school in Boston and he even has a driver’s license from the state of California.  Obviously, communication has not been a problem.   

The Mysterious Mr. Kwan:  In a room off to the side of the main office is our principal.  He looks very stern and gives the impression of someone you do not want to be on the other side of the desk from.  I can’t write too much about him, simply because he doesn’t speak too much.  But from what little we have talked, he is supportive and understanding. 

The Good Witch of the South:  As many people who have kept up with our experiences here, have some reason to fear for any new boss that we have.  Just to recap, our last boss was a cross between Marie Antoinette, Ms. Trunchbull, and the Wicked Witch of the West.  Justine is very much not any of these. Justine has been very nice, almost too nice.  To go a little further about how different and refreshing this has been, I want to describe a little about leadership styles.  Marie A. was a micro manager.  Everything needed her personal OK and that was rarely given without a casual remark of “Bla bla bla, classu.  Bla  bla bla however.  Bla bla bla floppy (comments removed by editor)” Justine on the other hand is more of a “do whatever you need to do” kind of person.  She gave us some tasks and the occasional emails to check and see what we are doing and beyond that has left us alone to do what we need to do.  Overall, she has been a wonderful manager. 

Not Dr. House:  NDH is far too complicated isn’t it?  Well let’s just call him Jerry then.  Jerry is an older man, and quite the character.  He has been having quite a bit of trouble sleeping over the last week, and has started to show signs of sleep insanity.  No, I’m not kidding.  It was when he mentioned that he had a stock pile of sleeping pills and may start mixing them with a large amount of beer, was when I started getting really worried.  It wasn’t so much the joke about suicide, as it was the question I had in my mind as to why someone would have a stock pile of sleeping pills.  Don’t get me wrong, he’s a nice guy, but even as he said himself, he isn’t very good at small talk.  Basically, he is the teaching equivalent of a computer geek.  He does teaching, and that’s about it. 

Mr. Lorre: The last of the teachers (for the moment) in our cast is a quiet guy whom is more than a little socially awkward.  He is very well dressed, except for his jackets being just a little too small.  I know because he never takes the things off during the day.  He’s from San Diego, so he gets cold very easily.  I admit to laughing a little when walking down the street with he and Rachel, and I feel very comfortable and everyone else is looking very uncomfortable.  I am a terrible person.  (The Editor is scowling at me while I am writing this)  He is very polite, and on occasion suffers quite a bit from people like The Well-Manicured Man.  Case in point what I shall call the Doughnut Incident.   Mr. Lorre mentioned that he thought a girl at the local Dunkin’ Doughnuts was kind of cute.  The Well-Manicured Man suggested that he should go after her.  It turned out that Mr. Lorre had already tried, having found and messaged the Dunkin’ Doughnuts girl on a dating site. She deleted her account the next day.  The Well-Manicured Man then suggested that he should try face to face communication because “You are a man!”  Now, Mr. Lorre was looking increasingly uncomfortable as time went on.  The Well-Manicured Man continued offering to come with him when he talked to the Dunkin’ Doughnuts girl.  In fact, the Well-Manicured Man suggested, everyone from the office could come as some completely non-terrifying, glass fogging, comitatus of wingmen, because “you are a man!”

Well that’s all the news from Korea.  Where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.  

New Beginning

Closing time 
Time for you to go out go out into the world. 
Closing time 
Turn the lights up over every boy and every girl. 
Closing time 
One last call for alcohol so finish your whiskey or beer. 
Closing time 
You don't have to go home but you can't stay here. 

…

Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end

-Closing Time, Semisonic

So the last week of Avalon was one of note.  Things have wrapped up in rather anger inducing ways, and in quite pleasant ways too.  We have met new amazing people and said farewell to others.  Let me start off with one such farewell. 

Nancy is an amazing woman.  She was the person who helped Rachel and I get the jobs that we have today.  During the last week that we were living in Seoul, I said farewell to Nancy.  She is moving on to bigger and better things back home in the states.  But for one night only, we had a night of games, drinks and a small taste of home.  After a fantastic dinner of delicious burgers and craft beers, we moved on to poutine (anyone who does not know what that is, ask anyone from Canada) and blueberry maccoli (a local, super cheap, rice wine).  After several hours and more than a few rounds we moved to one place of particular note. 

The All American Café was a place that was literally a slice of home.  We set up a few card games and I looked over the torn up, greasy, menu.  For a moment I was back in Ypsilanti.  The worn Astroturf was stained with condiments and alcohol, while annoying people talked about crass subjects in obnoxiously loud voices.  I took one look at the menu and ordered a gin martini and a bowl of chili…glorious. 

Now, I have talked about my experiences with cabbies here before, so I left the diner with plenty of time to catch the last train.  Well as it turns out, it was a major holiday here in Korea (the equivalent to Memorial Day – different war, same idea) and the subway shut down an hour earlier than normal.  So, with several bags that I was transferring for Nancy, I grabbed some cash and walked as far away from Itaewon as I could before hailing a cab.  Amazingly, I did not get fleeced.  I got home for under $5 and everything was cool. 

Those last few days at Avalon were something.  Anyone who has taught knows that there is one thing that is unavoidable and very painful.  I was taking over for a few classes until my contract ran up.  One of these classes had one of my favorite students.  His eyes lit up as I came inside.  But when I told him that I was leaving after that one class, his eyes widened further as he took my hand, giving me the expression that a cow gives an oncoming train, asking “why?”  The job may have sucked, but I will miss those kids. 

Alex

Brian

Soo Bin

My entire Santa Maria Class

Almost every DA class that I taught

Jenny

Sally

Sam

You will all be missed. 

As the title suggests, new things came.  We moved once again.  This time though, we were graced with Mr. Yang.  I cannot say enough nice things about this man.  Mr. Yang showed up with a company car and a company credit card.  He shuttled us and everything that we had the 45 minutes to our new apartment.  I want to take a moment from raving about Mr. Yang to rave about our new apartment.  We have more than one room!  I can sit on the couch in the living room (yes, you heard that right) and lose sight of Rachel as she walks down the hallway to the front door.  Large windows let in a tremendous amount of light as I sit down at the table to eat my breakfast. 

OK, back to Mr. Yang.  I had one last day of classes to get to the same day that we moved, so Rachel and Mr. Yang started to finish up.  He and Rachel went shopping for all the necessary things we needed for moving in.  He kept giving us stuff!  After getting Rachel lunch, he insisted on buying a pizza to put into the fridge for when I get back.  He insisted that we needed a microwave and a rice cooker.  He insisted... this is a very new experience for us.  We got him a very expensive bottle of whiskey as a thank you. 

With everything that has happened in the last few days at the new job, I can safely say that things are looking up.  Things are looking very, very up. 

More to come soon.  Until then, stay frosty dear readers.  

F*** Cabbies!

I have talked and raved about how awesome the public transportation system is here.  The subways, the buses, and even the taxis are pretty good.  When I was living in Busan I always carried 20,000 Won (around $19) for emergency cab fare.  That cash would get me anywhere in the city that I could ever want to get to, in no time at all.  After the other night, however, I have come to the conclusion that I need to stay as far away from taxi cabs as I can.  It might just be the fact that I am in Seoul or that I had to get a ride after the subway closed, but no matter the reason it sucked. 

Tyrel, a friend of mine from back in the states, was on his way back to the US from Japan and stopped in Korea for a quick visit. Tyrel, you are an awesome human.  I was at work and Rachel was also a wonderful person and hopped the long train ride to go and pick him up.  After I got out of work, all of us decided that we needed large amounts of food.  Seeing as how none of us really gets the chance to eat western food too often, we elected for hiking out to the foreign section of town for fish and chips, burgers, and a couple of beers.  We ate too much (turns out it was 2 for 1 night on said fish and chips) and had a few very expensive beers.  I get out of work fairly late and the subways run only a little past midnight. This is where we ran into trouble. 

With the subways closed, we needed to get home by cab.  I have had trouble getting a taxi in this part of town before, and this night was no different.  It was bitter cold and we were several hours away on foot.  3 separate cabs drove up to us and asked where we wanted to go, shook their head, and then drove off.  One even went so far as to lock their door when we got close, only to unlock them when a local got close.      

       

After several failures, another cab drove up and asked where we wanted to go.  I told him where, he understood and then demanded (around) $40 to take the three of us.  Now I have made this trip by cab before and it does not cost $40, more like $8.  I looked back at Rachel and Tyrel, then my watch, then the cabbie (let’s call him Niko).  I rolled my eyes realizing that this was probably the best that we were going to get.  That’s when I got scared.  Now I knew that cabbies were a little dangerous, but Niko was insane.

Before I talk about that I wish to describe a particular moment that happened a few weeks back.  Rachel and I were walking home from the store and were standing at the crosswalk waiting for the light to change.  I began to notice that several cars had driven past us in the direction that we were walking.  The light was red, but they were still driving.  This wasn’t something small, such as one or two cars, but more like watching traffic slow down for a moment instead of stop.  We watched as car, car, moped, car, taxi, car, city bus, car, car, truck, city bus, taxi, car, car, drove through the clearly marked red light.  Rachel and I have come to the conclusion that traffic signals here are more of what you would call guidelines rather than actual rules.  Which brings me back to being in the cab with Niko. 

As no doubt some of my younger readers have already concluded, Niko was not what you would call a safe driver.  There was an old game called Crazy Taxi that I am now reminded of.  

Yeah, it was like that.  We were speeding through red lights, yellow lights, turns, curves, and in and out of lanes.  We wandered into a bus lane, and even made a new lane at one point as we squeezed through a small space to make a right hand turn that we really shouldn’t have, given the fact that there was a truck coming. Tyrel was gripping the seat.  Rachel was getting queasy.  And I was making peace with the universe.  The good thing was that we got back to our stop in record time. 

For some of you, who thought that haggling was an option at the beginning, consider that he would have just driven off like the many others before him.  I tried haggling at the end of the trip and he was starting to give me this “you better give me 40 or we are going to throw down” look.  Essentially I got robbed.  It was necessary, but I got robbed.  The moral of the story is this.  If you need to take a cab at night in Seoul, be aware that they can pretty much do whatever they want.  If they want to charge more money they will, and they can get away with it because there are no other options.  Oh, and f*** Cabbies.  

The Desk Against the Dark Arts

I sit at a desk.  It’s a very nice, square thing.  My coffee stained mug sits close to my mouse pad, while my phone is covered up with alphabet flashcards.  I have a little candy jar, appropriately labeled: “Danger” and “Poison” sitting on top of some ESL games for most occasions.  To my left is Emma G.  (the new Emma).  To my right sits nobody. 

            This desk has not always been empty.  Indeed, it has seen many visitors over the course of my time here, but none have stayed long.  It has gotten so bad that I have begun to think that either there is something about my body odor or that the desk is cursed.  To my delight however, I am told that I smell great.  Thanks be for a steady cash flow for cologne, deodorant, and after shave lotions.  Since the beginning of this new semester, the desk has had 3 korean teachers come and go.  Consider at the time that I have written this (12/20/12), less than 3 weeks have passed in the semester.  This means that the desk has gone through a new relationship a week. 

            First there was The Man with No Name.  He was a quiet, reserved fellow.  He looked shy, and more than a little nervous sitting at the desk, almost as if he was afraid something would bite him.  He lasted for 2 days before learning that he was required to teach primarily in English.  Next came Hanna.  She was young, bright, and had lived in Melbourne for a few years.  She had personality, a strong smile, and was willing to converse with me.  She lasted 3 days. Finally I come to Jenny.  I am not sure what to say about her because she was gone within 2 hours of sitting at the desk.  2 hours! 

            When three things happen in sequence, science tells us that there may be a pattern emerging.  Now, I consider myself a rational person.  I am well educated and read big, important sounding books.  I am analytical and overly critical at times.  So I have come to only one possible conclusion about what is happening.  The desk is cursed.  Magic and sorcery is the only possible explanation.  The Dark Lord desires my neighboring desk and has cursed it until the day he can take that desk for himself.  Either that or the new head teacher is a real hard ass.  But I like magic as an explanation better.  

Revenge of the Blog!

I know that it has been a very, very long time since I have put myself in front of the warm glow of my laptop screen, no doubt leaving many of my good friends and family (Rachel’s included ) thinking that I am dead in a gutter somewhere, or just lazy.  I would like to think that the latter has nothing to do with my delay, but most who know me know that that would be a lie. I am not completely blameless, however.  I do have a small backlog of blogs that will be published in due time, but in the meantime allow me  to detail the very awkward 2 months that has been my life. 

When last we left our heroes, we were in the process of moving from one apartment to another.  Our lease was for some mysterious reason only 9 months long.  Even several weeks after the move, I am not sure if it was worth all the confusion and anguish that it caused.  Don’t get me wrong, our new place has its nice qualities.  It isn’t a coffin shaped rat hole, nor does it have a strange musty odor to it.  It’s new, clean, spacious and in its own apartment building in a residential area and not above a KFC.  The good along with the bad were wrapped up together, however.  Now, there are a number of details that I have elected to omit for sake of brevity and frustration.  I had an earlier draft of this particular section of the blog that somehow ended up being deleted or lost. 

Now, our move was one of many.  Indeed, like Alice’s tea party, some jerk in a fancy hat screamed “CHANGE PLACES!” and chaos ensued.  A new teacher was on her way from Scotland, Rachel and I were moving into our new place, and John was moving into a new place as well, a few days later.  Not trusting in the competence of the CEO to give us adequate aid, I took it upon myself to start moving stuff in the night before our last day.  I can only imagine the look on the few locals that were awake that late at night as I made trip after trip down the street, once with luggage, and again with bed sheets filled with pillows like some blending of Santa Clause and a tramp.  With little sleep (and a great deal of preparation for the lack of foresight on the part of my employers) we were moved in with few issues.  We were, however, denied a number of contractually guaranteed comforts such as a TV, a table, or a chair.  You may be thinking, why couldn’t we have just taken the ones from our last apartment?  Well those belonged to that apartment and not us, so no we couldn’t take them.  I just about flipped the table over in my boss’s office when I was denied a chair…A CHAIR!  More often that I would care to admit I have had a facepalm moment as consequence to these events.  An example was when my boss texted me saying “Oh hey, do you know who the Wachowski’s are?”  I said yes.  “Well they’re on channel 10 and it’s a really heartwarming story…” “That sounds nice, I would really like to watch it but as you know I don’t have a TV…” I am not sure if my sarcasm was detected through the text, but the point still stands. 

Moving on, I am sad to report a number of failures to organize all of these moves was not unexpected.  There was even a period of time where we were under the impression that the newest teacher wouldn’t be given a bed on time of her landing.  There is nothing that says welcome to your new home like, I know that you’re jetlagged and probably half –delirious from sleep deprivation, mixed with a little culture shock, but here, sleep on this bare hardwood floor, your bed isn’t going to be here for another 2 weeks.   Fortunately, things worked out for Emma G.  (the Scottish one, not the Canadian one, who is Emma L.).  The landlords had a bed in place (conveniently saving the school’s backside) and she was able to get some sleep that night. 

Time has passed since then and both Rachel and I are thinking about the future.  It may come as no surprise to anyone who has kept abreast of my sojourn here that I have decided not to renew my contract at Avalon.  This whole process, which is still going on at the moment, has left my head shaking.  First it was how I was offered (unofficially I might add) a month long break in between contracts to go home and see my family.  Yes, I turned it down.  Wait! Stop!  Put down the (insert fragile object here)(insert family member’s name here). I have a very good reason.   First, I would get a free ticket home and not Rachel.  Second, I knew that this was a sham, because I know their calendar cycle, and there is no room for a month long holiday period that I could have taken advantage of.  Finally, the place sucked.  My suspicions were confirmed as that offer never made again during our negotiations.  Indeed, much of what you could call negotiations was more of a guilt trip trying to get me to sign on for a few months more. 

It’s not as if this is where I have been spending most of my time these last few weeks or anything.  Since the end of Christmas, I have been working what was called the “Winter Intensive period”.  That basically means that I have been working 10 hour days and been getting less sleep than normal.  The one thing that I was really looking forward to was teaching an introduction to music class.  I thought, cool!  What fun it will be to go over what the difference is between an oboe and a clarinet… seriously I thought this was going to be a lot of fun.  The problem was that my students were far too young to appreciate the material.  Also not being given any support material that worked, like music, was problematic.  I ended up teaching Tchaikovsky via Fantasia and Tiny Toons.  The pleasant parts aside though, this last month has been a very long march of drudgery and constant work.  Homework books have been lost, papers have been lost, and more classes were added.  It has sucked.  

So we are in the process of looking for new gigs.  We have sent out a number of resumes and even heard back from one, but nothing solid yet.  Our fingers are crossed.  I thought that it might be best to get back down to safer and less stressful country, like Busan.  It’s warmer, less stressful, and I have even found my old recruiter from my first job.  I choose to remain hopeful.  On a side note it appears that my talent has not gone unnoticed.  I got a phone call a few days ago from none other than Marie A.  Yes, she’s back in the blog.  She has a new school that she is in charge of (don’t ask me how), and offered me a job.  Yes, that was the same reaction that I had too. 

Right so on to the parts that will have people worried.  First of all as I am writing this I am recovering from a case of stomach flu.  It was a moment of “are you fucking serious?”  when I called my boss, explained what was wrong, told her that I had already been to the doctor, and didn’t think that the risk of vomiting on the students or being covered in offending pools was worth the effort of me coming in to work, and she responded “Are you really sure you can’t come in?  Because I don’t know if I can change the schedule with so little notice.” It is moments like this that made me positive that the whole month off thing was really a sales pitch and not in the real deal.  Sad as it is, as soon as I got better, I passed it along to Rachel.  We’re both fine now, but oh what a fun weekend that was…

For now we are back to the usual routine of getting out late at night and sharing dinner.  I don’t feel nearly as tired as I was, and I have been able to even get some work done on other projects that I have been working on.  Still, we are waiting for more news about where we will be going next, and we will keep you posted out there in the ether.  

A Decent Pair of Pants!

So that had little to do with Korea, I know, but like Brainiac and Solomon Grundy I have felt similar frustrations about the elusive pants.  Now before I begin, I want to briefly talk about clothing in general in Korea.  What I am about to say has been said before, but it bears repeating.  If you are curious about this issue then please read on.  If, however, you are less interested in the fine details of clothing sizes then skip ahead to the paragraph after next. 

For any of you whom do not know this already, I am a fairly large person.  The average Korean is not.  There are also some basic structural differences that make things more difficult.  Some of the basic bone structure is different just enough to affect sizes.  Now if you reading this and are thinking that perhaps this may not be relevant to yourself, think again. Many members of the female persuasion have had issues also.  If you are thinking of living here for any length of time, I would highly encourage you to pack extras of the following items:

• Pants:  Nothing beyond a US size 38 is easily available

• Socks:  If you have wide feet like me, or anything past US size 12, you will not find anything.

• Shoes:  Like socks, anything beyond a US size 12 is nearly impossible to find. 

• Belts: Like pants anything beyond US size 38 is very difficult to find. 

• Women, the local women do not have hips (or feet past maybe a size 8).  Pants may be in your    waist size, but the hips will feel very snug. 

Now that that’s out of the way, on to some amusing stories.  I bought a few pairs of jeans online, along with some nice slacks.  This summer was very hot.  Wanting to be more comfortable, I wore my jeans more often than not.  My jeans have since worn out.  Holes have appeared and it was time to replace them.  And then I ran into problems.  You would have thought that getting clothing shipped to Korea would have been a very simple process.  Amazon.com, JCPenny, Target, and other usual online clothing chains will not ship clothing to Korea.  Macy’s will, but they are very expensive.  What I managed to find, that also fit my personal style, was Eddie Bauer.  They ship to Korea, have a number of fine things, and are moderately priced.  With the point and click world at my fingertips and a credit in my hand, I ordered a number of new pairs of pants.  Simple, right?  Were I more juvenile I would more than likely make some rude noise with my mouth and tongue, but since I am not I will refrain from doing so. 

I instantly had a hold placed on my order and Eddie Bauer was determined enough to send a letter via ground mail to my permanent mailing address in the USA.  Why?  I had no idea at the time.  As it turns out, it was to confirm my Korean mailing address, because I kid you not, they could not confirm the spelling.  It wasn’t because of suspicion of fraud or something that could have been solved via email, no.  It was because they could not confirm the spelling and wanted me to call, on the phone, with a confirmation number, from a letter, sent to the USA.  This delayed the delivery of my order by nearly 2 weeks. 

On an amusing aside, I was walking through E-Mart, with my headphones on listening to another one of my wacky audiobooks.  As I was going through the store I saw an older, foreign gentleman, whose wrinkled tattoos suggested navy career, stopped and pointed at me as I went by.  His local assistant began to chat with him.  Taking off my headphones, I was curious what was being said.  As it turns out, the soccer ball shaped octogenarian, asked with frustrated hope, “Where did you get those pants?”  I replied that I brought them with me, and I saw his heart sink.  He and his assistant went off to the few foreign quarters to find the few places that sell larger sized clothing.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, these places do exist, but they are few and far between.  They have also shown themselves to have a limited stock. 

Just a few days ago now, my package of new pants finally arrived.  The tragedy throughout all this was the fact that the order was wrong.  I ordered 4 pairs of pants and a belt (all one size smaller than I had been wearing, woot!).  One pair that I got in the package was so small that Rachel was able to wear it comfortably.  Another said the correct size on the package, however had been mislabeled and was about 6 inches too small in reality.  I have yet to mail it back, but will be done in the next few days so that I can get the correct size.  But I at least have a few decent pairs of pants.