just another American teacher in SK

Foreign residents who come to Korea with a long term visa are required to obtain an Alien Registration card from the local Immigration Office within 90 days of arrival and carry it on their person at all times.  It is advisable that you get your ARC as soon as possible after you arrive, because you can’t do anything without it ~ you can’t open a bank account, obtain a cell phone, pay a bill, get internet in your home, leave and re-enter the country(!!) …  In other words, it really is a priority.

Because my co-teacher doesn’t drive and the other teachers are too busy, I had to venture to the Incheon Immigration Office by myself today.  I’ve described the previous ass-numbing trip into Incheon via bus from Ganghwa ~ 3 hours on the bus that rambles along over hill and dale.  In preparation for my big excursion, my co-teacher printed about 10 pages of maps and instructions (oh, god, is that really necessary?)  We scheduled a 4:50 PM appointment, assuming that if I left Ganghwa at noon, I would arrive in time.  Seriously, folks ….

Fortunately, one of the former foreign teachers was visiting this week and offered to show me the “fast way in.”  As Jim and I were leaving the bus terminal at 1:00 this afternoon he said, “It’s a bit convoluted, but trust me …”  and indeed he was right.  Take the express bus to Songjeong, get on the Seoul 5 to Gimpo airport, take AREX to Gyeoyang, transfer to the Incheon line, transfer to the Incheon 1 at Bupyeong, get off at Dongincheon, and hail a cab to the Immigration Office ~ I know that means nothing to anyone, but I find it amusing just to repeat the whole mess.  I arrived at my destination shortly after 3 PM, almost 2 hours earlier than if I had taken the dreadful bus.  Quite something, don’t you think?

I did have to wait in queue for about 20 minutes, along with a bunch of other foreign teachers, but the process only took about 5 minutes at the window.  In approximately 10 days I will be an official Alien Resident ~ wowee!  So, by the end of March, I should be able to access my bank account, (finally!) get internet in my apartment, and move freely through/in/out of Korea. 

I am currently sitting in a Dunkin’ Donuts (of all places) because I can access a wireless internet connection here while I wait for my friend Tanya to finish up with school.  We are planning to have dinner tonight and then navigate the subways into Seoul for some nightlife. 

Oh, my phone is ringing ~ gotta go!

Cheers!!

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 2:21 pm and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.