Archive for the ‘money’ Category

yeah, banking is becoming complicated. it’s not the banking itself, but the fact that the korean won is no longer reliable. i’ve opened two foreign currency accounts (dollars and euros) and i’m going to shift my savings into those accounts.

so i’ll spend my free time watching the exchange rate and picking better days to move money. it’s not perfect, and i’m going to lose some on exchange … thanks to the korean won diving like an italian football player … but i’ll do what i can to make the most of it.

i went out for dinner with some friends last night. we headed to a restaurant and ate heaps of australian beef. of course, the beef went down very well … and there was lots of soju to go with it. i got a little pissy, but i had a good time.

when i woke up this morning i felt a little fuzzy. but the hangover wasn’t bad and i recovered quickly. school was easy today, since it’s the last day of the month and all my students have returned to their university studies. so i finished early and headed out to do some errands.

on my list of things to do was get a few shots. i was due for my second hep B shot, which i got done, and i headed to a children’s hosital for a hep A injection. in 5 months i get my last hep B shot and in 6 months i get my second (and last) hep A shot … i also need a yellow fever injection (which is probably going to make me sick) but it is difficult to get in korea. so i’ll probably get it abroad.

in other news, the korean won is diving like crazy. last week it was 1080 won to the US dollar, now it’s 1130 won. while it doesn’t affect my savings (which are already in US$) it means that i’ll be losing money on my income for the next six months … damn it!

there’s talk of a second economic crisis (only 10 years after the IMF last intervened and bailed out korea’s ridiculously over-inflated economy). the IMF has warned korea numerous times to control their economy. foreign companies are pulling out their investments and it’s widely predicted that shit and fan will meet.

i just hope the country can hold itself together for 6 months … or the won recovers. i really don’t want this to explode before i get out.

so, i got my girl, and i got my job, and i got my gold tooth, and i got my life. things aren’t perfect, but they’re cruising along nicely for the moment. i’ve been wrangling with banks in preparation for next year. i’ve finally found a bank that will give me an international debit card and a credit card. they also have high interest savings accounts, so i’m in the process of moving all my money over to them. monday or tuesday that should all be done.

yesterday i had my gold crown put in … finally. i had to wait while they remoulded the filling. when i went back to the dentist yesterday the filling was perfect and they cemented it in. it feels a little strange, but it’s very comfortable. after that i headed to cheonan to meet up with ryan. after a mixup at the bus stations, we finally got together and headed to gakwonsa temple. the temple was really awesome. the grounds are quite big and at first we couldn’t find the big sitting buddha. however, we were standing in front of the main temple and i looked to the left, there amongst the trees was the top of the buddha’s head sticking out.  we wandered around for a few hours and got a lot of shots. the weather was poor, so the shots aren’t as good as i had hoped. however, we liked the temple and buddha, so we plan to head back there in the future, when we can get blue skies.

today is washing day. i’ll probably end up chatting to senor culo, wash and clean my apartment, curse netherlands for losing to russia, edit photos and relax.

i checked my account yesterday and there’s 9.4 million won in there. with the 400,000 won that comes in next week, i’ll have close to the 10 million that i need to start my saving plan.

if all goes according to plan, i should finish with exactly US$100,000.

update - july 10th, there’s $12,500 in the account.

update - july 11th, i had to give $2,500 to sujoung’s mother, but i’m assured that the money will be put back, with a few thousand extra. currently $10,700 in the account.

gone backwards, again … took out $1000 from the account to buy the umpc. however, that money will be replaced. sujoung has promised the $1000 for the computer, plus an extra $4000 to cover the money taken out for her mother. so all up, i should go ahead by about $1500 out if it all.

savings plan … what’s possible with a little effort!!

may 10,000
june 2,500
july 2,500
august 2,500
september 2,500
october 2,500
november 2,500
————–
sub-total 25,000

december 4,000
january 4,000
february 4,000
————–
sub-total 37,000

march 4,500
april 4,500
may 4,500
june 4,500
july 4,500
august 4,500
september 4,500
october 4,500
november 4,500
december 4,500
january 4,500
february 4,500
————–
sub-total 91,000

bonuses

eulji pension 5,000
month salary 2,500
————–
grand total 98,000