Matt found me a computer guy on the internet: a Korean man who speaks perfect English. After some emailing back and forth, I finally decided to take him up on his, "I'll fix it for $150" offer. Better than $400 for a new one, right?
I met The Computer Man (his contact name in my phone) last night in Sincheon. Lordy, that's far away from my house. I was standing on the subway for an hour, along with seventy five thousand million trillion Korean people. Literally. The subway smelled like kimchi. And the yapping was ceaseless. Good thing I was in a great mood. Seriously.
I got to the station at 6:15 last night (after a full day of sitting and blogging...exhausting) and The Computer Man was waiting there for me. I guess he knew it was me. Hahaha...it was like a blind, um, meeting of sorts. But there was no need for that obligatory, "so what do you look like, what will you be wearing, so I know what to look for" type of You've Got Mail situation. I'm just the only white person there. Nice-uh.
The Computer Man called me back a few hours later (at this point, I was wandering the streets of Hongdae, just loving the area. I'll be back this Friday for certain) and told me that there is a 50/50 chance he can fix it. Here's what happened (techies, don't judge me):
The female part of the charger has come loose and detached from the motherboard. When he gets the new part from Canada, if he can reattach it to the motherboard, we are in business. If he can't, the computer will never again have power, and will be toast. We have a 50% chance of this working. You know what? That's waaaaay better than a 4% chance. And 4% chances have gotten me pretty far in life. ;)
I'm staying positive.
And I'm in love with Hongdae. Design, designers, students from the university in painting smocks? I can't describe my glee. I found a copy of the newest British Vogue (not American Vogue though...too bad). It was $20. Paris Vogue? $25. I was in shock. So I spent 25 minutes reading them in the store, hoping the storekeeper would just let me. Low and behold, he did.
I picked up a pair of cream tights at the subway station. We'll see how that goes.
When I got back home, I had just enough time to clean the apartment before I started Skype tutoring. I got some pretty interesting information about Korea. My student (who is 18, mind) postulates that the reason Koreans don't socialize with their friends at their homes (stark contrast to my culture, where hanging out is just about the most frequent activity a person under 30 participates in) is because they only have one day off a week. That's right folks: Koreans typically work six days a week (and upwards of 12 hours a day). So when the weekend rolls around, they want to spend time (or have to) with their families, and don't want to have to grocery shop, clean, and prepare for friends to come over (and subsequently feel welcomed and impressed with the stocked, clean house). So, she said, Koreans go out to eat all the time: it's cheap, easy, and can be over in an hour, allowing more time for the obligations they have.
Thought I'd share that. My student is really cool: she's wise beyond her years. When I told her that last night, she told me, "yes, this is because my mother tells me the truth all the time." Well alright then.
Though this has nothing to do with the sentiment of this post, I think I'll put 'er in anyway.
And what do we have to say to that? Yes, yes I will. And isn't that a sweet victory in itself? Because with every single failure comes a choice, a chance to start fresh. It's a new day: a new opportunity to get it right.
I'm listening to The Temper Trap today. I love this guy's voice.
Have a great day!
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