Oh the geekiness!

I don't think I need to worry about being disconnected from home, even with the prospect of no phone line until tomorrow and no internet hooked in for a few days. Why: Well A: because I've got some amazing friends that will let me use their computers and their phones. But even if its 4 in the morning I can still get online...how? The PC Bang.

(Korean lesson: Bang means room. So if you hear someone say NoraehBang, as an example, it means "singing room" but there is no Korean word for "PC" so it's PC Bang)

You will see these places everywhere! the two letters "PC" big and coloful, normally with a floor number beside it. These neon signs have become both an annoyance and a godsend because they are one of the only signs I've been able to understand from the start, but they are everywhere!

I only stepped into one once before this moment. On my first night. Because when I tried the computer in my Motel room and everything was in Korean, I walked into the first PC Bang I found, looked at the poor sixteen year old behind the counter (Poor because he looked terrified by the white boy, and because he was working at 4 am! when the hell do these kids sleep?!) and I said "English?" And he shook his head and that was it, I decided to return to my sketchy but clean Motel and try to crack the computer code. And I did. I still can't read the stuff, but I can make keyboards make english and I can muddle my way through changing websites.

But not I've got a break between 5 and 6 before my next class and I've just been moved into my new place, so there is no internet for me. But I was sitting in the teachers office (yeah, we all share one, its cozy) and I looked across the road out the window and saw "PC." Why not, I thought, and walked over to do a little updating.

First of all the price: It isn't bad, at basically a dollar an hour, it isn't fantastic either. But this place is insane. I should have realized how geek centered Korea was when I saw that there are not one but TWO networks dedicated to Starcraft (okay one plays Warcraft sometimes) But these are high quality machines, top of the line monitors and chairs that look like I should be a starfleet captain to sit in. THIS is what Korean kids do all the time!? How are they not huge!? I mean if America (Canada included) had these kind of places our children wouldn't be fat, they would all be morbidly obese.

That little rant aside, they're comfy, have a smoking and non smoking section and are quick enough that I can keep up with the world back home until I get settled in.

Well time to go back to teaching, catch you guys later.

J