Thursday was the day when I finally got a Korean bank account. I’ve been here for two months now, so it has become something of an inconvenience not to have the modern conveniences of life like an ordinary debit card. I dislike the admin of being in a foreign country but, as a friend pointed out when the whole process leading up to my trip was getting me down, that’s the price you pay for wanting to work in a strange land. And I’ve handled the frustration of the admin, as well as things not always going exactly according to plan at work, fairly well. Colleagues and superiors here have commented several times on how well I handle the semi-chaos and that I never complain. It’s something of a vindication after being called a difficult employee by more than one boss in the past.
On Thursday, however, all the admin of getting my alien card had finally passed and I headed off with my boss to set up a Korean bank account. I’ve never been a particular fan of banks. I find them annoyingly beauracratic and time-consuming, particularly with SA’s FICA system. I am starting to think, however, that the annoying South African banks are really the best of the bunch. Apart from anything else, it’s intimidating to be setting up an account in a place where no-one speaks English. For this reason, I was glad to have my boss with me. He did all the talking and got me set up with a foreign currency account which should, at some point in the near future, allow me to send money home, as well as a Korean account so that I can move money around here. I would have preferred to be able to set up one account for everything but apparently here you have to have a separate account if you want to do internet banking. That said, the initial hassle is probably worth it to be able to move money, particularly because the ATMs are all in Korean and close at midnight. Of course, I’m still in the process of setting up my computer so that I can actually do internet banking but I’m sure I’ll manage. The site has an English version, so I will hopefully be able to manage and navigate it.
The bank itself was a strange experience. I’m used to banks being cool, quiet places of organisation, security and order. At a South African bank you have to enter through a double security door, where there is almost invariably a security guard, and a place to check any weapons. Cellphones are not allowed and the staff are serious people, going quietly about their business. Everyone speaks in hushed tones and the tellers are all (at least seemingly) discrete and professional. Compared to that, this felt a little like a circus. The place was warm and welcoming with balloons and bright colours and posters and ads for (I assume) special deals and accounts. There was minimal security. The staff all seemed to be wearing different outfits and behaved, really, just like ordinary office workers. There were numerous customers chatting on cellphones, a baby crying and a toddler wandering around in shoes that squeaked like a child’s squeaky toy. A man I assume was the manager wandered around having loud conversations with staff and customers. One teller was sitting at his desk with a cup of take-away coffee-shop iced coffee. People ambled backwards and forwards with wads of cash and with people’s cards and bankbooks. Once I handed over my passport and alien card, the person who was helping me chatted to the person next to him and wandered off with it and had loud conversations with my boss, possibly about how to write ‘South African’ in Korean. I then had to sign a small forest of forms – all in Korean, so that I have no real idea what I signed (I’m relying on my boss and hoping that I haven’t just signed over my entire life to the bank).
After what felt like an age of signing forms and entering secret pin codes (you have to invent your own pin number here, instead of them assigning you one – which seems to me to be somehow less secure) and listening to harried conversations in Korea, I eventually left with two bank books. The bank-book concept has fallen out of favour in SA as a result of its inconvenience but seems to be alive and well here. It wasn’t until we got back to the car that I timidly asked about a debit/ATM card. Either this is not standard practice here, or it just hadn’t occurred to anyone that I might want to be able to access my money using quick and easy modern methods. I’d assumed that they’d immediately issue a card – as they do at home. In fact, given that I am likely to have trouble communicating my requirements to every bank teller I ever deal with, and that I won’t be able to read any of the Korean forms that I assume are required to withdraw and/or transfer money, I would think it would be in their own interests – purely for the sanity of their bank tellers. Apparently not. My boss has promised to go back to the bank (there are several branches near work) at some point next week to sort that out.
On the advice of a foreign colleague, I also set up the service that sends a text message every time a transaction is complete. I’m very used to having ‘In-contact’ on my SA accounts and have some of the South African paranoia about crime, so it’s good to know that I’m able to do that here, even if it does cost me a little.
On the plus side, I now have an account into which they’ve been able to pay my August salary, so once the card is sorted out I will have money and- provided I go into the branch with confirmation from my school that the money comes from my salary – be able to send money out of the country.
As frustrating as the admin can be, it’s good to know that I now have an alien registration card (although it’s currently with my boss who is registering it with the Department of Education) and a bank account or two. As far as I know, that is all the admin I need to worry about for now, unless of course – which is entirely possible – there is something else which no-one has told me about, but I’m hoping to be admin free for the next couple of weeks at least.