Korean office adventures

This week, I visited a few different places; Immigration, Shinhan Bank, and health insurance.

Immigration:
I think I did almost everything wrong when going to Immigration to get my address changed for my Korean ID card. FYI: Seoul Immigration office is over one hour away by subway. First, I didn't bring my passport with me, so I didn't have any of that information. Luckily, I remembered my passport number, but I wouldn't have been able to give F-4 visa number or expiration of passport. Next walking from the subway station, I begin to think that I might need have passport-size photos. I just hoped that I wouldn't need them. Also, I live in Gyeonggi-Do, so it is technically outside of Seoul city limits. When I was leaving I saw a sign showing the jurisdiction area of Seoul Immigration and my area was still in the jurisdiction of this office. Overall, the lady working spoke a little English, so it wasn't too bad. At least, I had my old ID card and new address written down. All they did was print my new address on my old ID card.

I have two bank accounts in Korea that I kept open after leaving Korea. The first account was the one I needed for direct deposit of my paycheck. The second one, I opened because I could get a debit card. For foreigners, it is easy to get an ATM card, but debit cards are not allowed with certain banks. When I first came I deposited money in my 2nd account. I decided that I should get deposit some money in my 1st account to get an update on transactions and balance. When I got my bank book back, I was really surprised that there was an extra $1480 in my account from a Pagoda deposit. Later, I learned that Pagoda gave me my tax return. If I was still in SF, I wouldn't have know that it was there. Let's just say that I happy that with having some extra money.

Since I left Korea, I have had adventures with health insurance. Eventually, I signed up for CA health insurance, but there was a lot paperwork and difficulty finding affordable insurance. Also, canceling CA insurance is a big hassle. Yesterday, I looked on the Korean health care website. I was able to find the nearest location to where I live. I wasn't exactly sure where it was because Korean addresses don't really use a numbering system with street names. They use a suburb, suburb subdivision, and building name system. I knew that it was close to my house because the same names were in its address as my address. I eventually found the office. Fortunately, this time I had all of the correct paperwork. I brought my ID card, passport, and old insurance card. The two ladies at the office were able speak a little Konglish, so I was able to get signed up. At least the Korean system doesn't have a long detailed form to fill out. All I had to do was sign up without any medical history information.

How many of you are paying $4.00/gallon at the pump? Well, if you were in Korea you would pay a lot more. I can't read the different types of gas offered at the gas stations, but prices range from $6.00 to $7.85. I would guess unleaded gas would be closer to the high number. Some vehicles use CNG or LPG as alternate fuels. Korea is a small country, but lots of people drive and Seoul is like any other metropolitan area with lots of place spread out. Also, many couples use a car as their personal space for dating, which could be expensive if they drive around much.