Delivery in Korea rocks!

You just have to love the fact that there are so many restaurants that deliver in Korea. They deliver everything from Chinese, Japanese, Korean as well as Pizza. On top of that there’s no delivery charge! And, of course there’s no tip—this is Korea after all.

When they bring you food, they serve them on the regular plates that they use in the restaurant and wrap them in vinyl wrap to prevent spillage. They also bring you a little plastic bag. After you are done, you are supposed to put all the dishes in the plastic bag and leave them outside your door. After a while, the delivery man comes back to pick up the empty plates. I guess it’s cheaper to have the delivery man make a second trip rather than pay for disposable containers. Or Koreans are very conscious about reducing trash.

I feel kind of guilty for making the guy make two trips just to get KRW 3,500 ~ 6,000 for a meal. In the winter, I may get tempted to tip the guy for delivering food to a lazy bum who hates to go outside in the snow. But then, if I started tipping, it may set a bad precedence. We’ll just have to wait and see what I’ll do….

In the meantime, my 짜장면 (Cha Chang Myun) is waiting for me. It only cost me KRW 3,500. I just feel so guilty…. Oh, well.

I am so screwed without my passport!

I went down to the 출입국관리사무소 (Immigration Office) in 목동(Mokdong) to apply for my 거소증(Gyopo National ID). I dropped off my passport and my application with them for them to process my 거소증. It will take 10 days before I get my passport back. I’ll write more about this later.

After I dropped off my passport, I went to 동대문 (Donddaemoon) Migliore and bought some clothes. After this, I sat down on my laptop to go into Woori bank’s website to activate my VISA checkcard (ATM/debit) card. I couldn’t activate my VISA checkcard from Woori Bank. Since I don’t have 거소증, I don’t know what I’m supposed to type in when they ask me for 주민등록증. I have under KRW 80,000. I have a bank account in Wooribank, but the ATM card is not working. I can’t go into a bank branch and get this straightened out because the banks are closed on Saturday and Sunday in Korea. Even if I went into a bank branch, guess what? I don’t have my passport!!!!! I have hard U.S. currency but I can’t exchange them because I don’t have my passport. Aarrrgg! I am so screwed!!!!!

As a last resort I think I can use my U.S. credit card to get cash advances. But, my cousin was able to help me out by giving me some KRW for my US currency. Whew!

Lessons learned: Do not drop off your passport to immigration office unless you have enough KRW to last you for about 2 weeks. Also, make sure you don’t have a job interview scheduled in the next 2 weeks because your employer will want to see your passport.