Man, I wish I had the internet.

Writing to this thing would be so much easier. Everytime I need to use the internet I have to go down to the PC bang (room) around the corner. Alright, it's not very far, and it's not too expensive either, but it is a bit of hassle. And most of my limited time then is spent on facebook or checking emails or whatever. I'm used to having hours on the web, rather than just snatches here and there. So today, I'm being clever. I'm writing a nice long one here in my apartment, and I'll upload it later, so as to maximise internet time. Plus, I have apple juice here and I don't have to wear a shirt. (I like living alone in a warm country.)
I can't get internet in my apartment because I don't have my alien registration card. This is issued to you roughly three weeks after you do your medical test, which myself and Maccon Fionn did on Friday last. Until you get this card, you can't get a mobile phone, bank account, cable TV or health insurance either. So once I get sorted for this card, basically, I can have everything I need. But it is a bit of a dose, going from being all wired up at home to being relatively uncontactable. I know, sure who'd be phoning me anyway, right? But still, meeting up with the lads is difficult. You can't just say “Give me a call,” because people can't.
The medical test was no bother, the worst part of it was giving blood. I'm not a massive fan of having needles stuck in me anyway (who is?), but it was quick and relatively painless. The funniest bit was the eye test. The eye doctor lady made me stand in the doorway of her office and read the letters. When I went to take off my glasses, she said “Annio, Annio!” (“No, No!”). So I left them on, and read the letters she pointed at. So the test must just have told her... how good my glasses were? I don't understand. Then she sat me down and opened a little book. And sure enough, it was a colour blindness test, that little mosaic of different coloured dots. “What number?” she said. Ahaha, I thought, I know I usually can't do these, but I'm pretty sure I can see this one. “Nine?” I said, albeit somewhat hopefully. The noise that came out of her mouth was one of utter astonishment, and she looked at me as if I were simple. I really think she'd never encountered anyone who was colour blind before. I had a couple more stabs, “Six? Thirteen?” before giving up. She just stared. “Colour blind!” I said, waving my hands in front of my eyes. I'd say she thought I was a real character. I left the room slightly confused, but one step closer to my alien card, at least.
I think I'm still getting used to the heat. Well, the humidity is the real killer. I suppose it's not that bad, like a really nice day in Ireland, but very close. And it's like that all day. It's great when I step out of my apartment in the morning, but it gets a little bit much by the end of the day. I find myself taking naps, and would probably take more if I didn't have to work all evening! Course, it's going to get hotter and more humid. I can't wait! Today we had a few drops of rain. Nobody else in the office noticed it, but I'm an expert at recognising rain, being from Ireland and all. You know the way they say “It's not worth writing home about”? Well this seems to be, because I am. It made everything a whole lot cooler and nicer. Roll on rainy season!
Last weekend was mainly spent taking it easy. Saturday I spent getting a little more acquainted with my neighbourhood, Siji. It's on the outskirts of Daegu, and if I had Google maps in my apartment, I'd surely work out how to link you to it. But it's only ten or fifteen minutes by subway from the centre of the city, so it's alright. There are plenty of restaurants, and although the Korean places can be a little intimidating, they're handy enough to manage as there are usually pictures of the food somewhere. Everything Korean is delicious, by the way. I love it all, and I'll write in the coming weeks about all the amazing food I'm eating. Sunday was supposed to be spent hiking Palong mountain, the highest mountain in the reigon. Apparently there are buddhist temples all the way up. I say apparently, we had to change buses at one point and ended up going the wrong way. We ended up at a lake at the other side of the city! It was quite fun though, we took swan pedalos out and played some mini-golf.
Tomorrow we're going to the train station to buy our tickets to Seoul for this weekend. It's Buddha's birthday, the lucky man, so there'll be parades and a lantern festival. The girl in the office who's organising the trip has, I think, signed us up to a latern making workshop. Expect photos. I promise I'll post some of the better ones up, I know I've been really bad about it, but I'm going to plead the No Internet defence again! Anyway, I'll love you and leave you, and hope this satisfies those of you looking to get your Alex fix...