Cathianne's Journal:
23 Feb. 2011
The Longest Waiting Time -- Buying A Smart Phone
Let me share with you my adventures for today.
This morning, I woke up at 8:00. I had some bread with me so I ate some for breakfast. Good thing the room had a couple of bottled water so I didn't have to go out to buy some drink anymore. After getting prepared and dressed up, I walked down to the laboratory and waited for GJ oppa. When he arrived, I tasted my first instant coffee in the lab with the paper cup vendo to put my coffee in. I'd usually drink coffee while sitting down and relaxing except for that morning. For the first time I was carrying a cup of coffee that was almost full while catching up with his pace because we were going to the downtown area to buy my phone! WEEEEE!!!
Upon reaching the place, everything was "deserted". Everything seemed still. Almost all the shops were closed! To think that it was already 11:00 AM. The SK Telecom store was also closed. It was where we were supposed to buy the phone. Then we went to Qock (I don't know exactly how it is pronounced but the logo looked like it was spelled that way) and it was open! Hurrah! GJ oppa knew I needed applications like wifi, free chats and internet services so he suggested several smartphone models. I ended up with a Samsung Anycall Android. I'm not a gadget geek but it looks great. The first and last time I bought my own phone was way back in 2005. This is the second and I needed oppa to help me out because the sales guy didn't know how to speak in English. Oppa did all the discussions. The phone came free with a 35,000 KRW monthly plan that I have to use for at least two years. Not bad for a smart phone!
Tic tac...
It's 12:00NN. Fortunately, I have eaten breakfast. Poor oppa hasn't eaten yet and I had just known that they had stayed up til morning in the lab finishing some final reports. I started listening to my sister's shuffle. Oppa did some talk with the local manager (probably asking how longer it will take...talk about waiting for an hour already!).
*** Cellphone store scenario: It's just a small glass enclosed store, probably with an area of 20 sq.m. more or less, we were entertained after about 15 minutes because there was a customer who came ahead of us. It seems that they can only entertain one person at a time. Then there came an old man in his early 60's maybe who was seeking their service. He also had to wait and ended up talking and having more conversations with the manager and sales guy. Oppa has already gone out for some air while I kept listening to the iPod. After about another 20 minutes, the sales guys said to just wait for 10 minutes more... Tic tac goes the time... I'm starting to starve and feel the need to go to the washroom because of the coffee!... Tic tac and a few minutes more..
Finally! Oppa got the paperbag with my smart phone! Yey! It was already 1:00pm in my watch. 2 hours?! Does it take that long to buy a mobile phone? Or was it just not a good day for the store... Oh well... I got what I needed anyway. ***
We walked back to the university, I was chillin' and really needed to go pee! [Oh, stop light, please give me a go green...NOW.] By the time we reached the cafeteria, everything was done and we can no longer buy our meal. *Sigh* Oppa brought me to another cafeteria. It was more of like a sandwich store because all they served were sandwiches and fruit juices. A good choice for the health conscious I guess. And again, thanks to oppa. If not for him, I wouldn't know again what to eat. Everything was written in Korean! I simply said yes to the suggested bacon sandwich and chose orange juice for my drink. All I could understand were the numbers. The sandwich prices ranged from 1,200 to 2,200 krw. The fruit juice were like from 1,200 to 1,500 depending on the fruit. And again we waited. What was cool about the place though was that it had a cellphone store inside it. Funny reaction by oppa: "oh, there's just one here [cellphone store]". The fact that we went out of the school and walked far downtown and waited so long just to find out there's one open inside the campus! Haha! *Charge it to my experience*. I also noticed that the caf had a TV that was tuned in to what seemed like a Korean drama series. But I couldn't understand anyway, so I didn't bother to watch anymore. *laughs*
After we got our orders, we walked to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf where our other lab-mates where seated outside with their coffees. We ate our lunch there. I knew another lab-mate who was younger than I, Gwang. So I'm not the youngest in the lab anymore, hahah! Just the unica hija. He was "bullied" to speak to me in English.
We all went back to the lab after lunch. There, I learned to use the smart phone with the help of oppa. He changed the language to English 'cos it will be of no use for me if I couldn't read a thing!
After several applications, I tried downloading and installed chikkatext on my computer (so I can chikkatext even in the lab to send messages to family and friends in the Philippiens for free, hahah!). After a while, oppa gave me some lab reports to read. All I could read was the English part. And it was only 3 pages! The Summary. Bow. T_____T"
A few minutes later, he handed me a lab report which had "more" alphabets in it. Only to find out most of it were in Turkey language. (^_*) It was only almost 7 in the evening and we went out to eat dinner. I guess everyone was hungry.
This time, the restaurant didn't require the shoes or footwear removed! Yeah..! And the tables were the normal type where we all sat on chairs (not pillows on the floor). Poor me again, no idea of what to order because "I know no read". T___T" Oppa suggested something about pork that I didn't understand and I told them to order whatever is the best and as long as it's edible, I'm good with it! Hahah! A few seconds later, the famous radish in red (kimchi) came, and round yellow thin sliced vegetable (?) that I don't know what to call. Wayne oppa said it's also radish but sweet, not spicy. Then there came the ramen! Something to warm the stomach for the cold walk we just had. I was introduced to whom they kept teasing as Chinese. All I could remember was the first letter of his name -- it started with C... Too hungry to remember the names? He became too shy to speak because he was being pressured by the rest of the group to talk in English. Poor guy, not until I joked that I wouldn't eat him, all he could say was "Shy man" and everybody heard and laughed.
While waiting, I kept observing my surrounding and the show on the tv even if I couldn't really understand a word. I just knew they were advertising some cooking ware that made the food on tv look so tempting. The walls of the restaurant was covered with rose pink colored wallpaper with some flowers all around. It's like being in a doll house or origami!
The main dishes were served and I got PORK KATSUDON! I remember this being my youngest brother's favorite. The serving was big, really big! Or was my appetite just really small... Anyway, I was only able to eat one piece of the two-piece serving and finished the rice. I love the rice -- sticky! YUM! And I tried the ramen. It tasted way better. I guess I just have had enough of the katsudon, it tasted good too but the serving was just too much for me. For the first time, I paid my own meal and that pork katsudon cost me 4,000 krw. It was a good meal! That meal will be giving me a good night sleep now.
--- Til here for now as I'm signing off ---
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