money woes

I saw another retarded Korean person yesterday; he was almost hit by a car while crossing the street. That's three spottings in as many weeks. This is getting, dare I say, mental. It's getting mental.

So, let me explain just how exasperating my money woes have been. I only brought a few hundred dollars over here with me to convert to Korean currency, because I was sure, and had been assured, that my debit card from home would work here. Having access to that money would no doubt sustain me until my first paycheck here, which won't be until August 7.

However, when my original 200 dollars ran out and I went to use my debit card, guess what? No dice. I've probably tried a dozen different cash machines all over this country and all I get is an error message written in Korean and a strong urge to smash the machine to pieces.

I begin to put the wheels in motion for my next plan to get money. I set up a bank account over here so that I can transfer the money from my account back home to my account in Korea. I have my Mom go to the bank and give them the info for my Korean account so they can transfer $800. She tells me that the bank said it would take 2 weeks. 2 fucking weeks. How the hell can it take 2 weeks to move some numbers from a computer screen in one bank to a computer screen in another bank?

So, Mom alerts the bank that there has to be a quicker way, because I'm in desperate times. (I should note here that the desperate times have been slightly alleviated by my school's willingness to give me a couple advances on my first paycheck, so I've had enough money to afford food, but not much else.) The bank says that they will mail me an international check for $800 dollars that they guarantee will work. Doesn't seem like the brightest idea in the world to me, but there's no other way. They put it in the mail on Monday, promising it would be delivered to my school by Friday.

On Thursday I'm at work, in the middle of class, teaching the wonderful angels, when my school's manager knocks on the door and waves me to come outside.

"Did you order something...some pants?" she asks.

"Pants? No," I reply.

"Because I just got a phone call saying there's a package for you with 'trousers'. Like pants, right?"

"I'm expecting my check--my money from my bank."

"Why would that say trouser?"

"I got no fuckin' clue, lady."

Come to find out, when the check was received by Korea they saw "Treasurer" written on the envelope and mistook that as "trouser", and saw that the contents was worth $800. They just couldn't comprehend how there could possibly be a foreigner ordering an $800 pair of pants. This fiasco delayed the delivery of my check, and here I am on a Saturday still without my money.

After all this, if this check ever does actually make it into my hands, I am 100% certain that I won't be able to deposit it for one reason or another.