After about a week without my own Internet connection, feeling like I’d lost half my brain, they jacked me back in today.
The director of the school where I work called the Internet company on yesterday. He helped me set up an appointment for today, between 9:00 and 10:00 in the morning, for the guy to come out to hook it up.
At the end of my phone conversation with the Internet company, the lady on the other end told me to let her speak with the director. So I did. But then when he hung up, he said they would call me in the morning before coming over. He then gave me a number to call if I had any trouble.
So this morning I’m waiting for this phone call.
At about 10 after 9:00 my cell rings.
“Hello?” I say.
“Yoboseyo?” a man says.
Great, that’s one of the like five words I know in Korean, not including alcoholic beverages. It just means, “Hello?”
Should I answer in Korean and risk him thinking I actually speak Korean?
“Hello?” I said again.
He rattled off something in Korean.
“I… I don’t speak Korean.” I said. I really need to learn how to say that in Korean.
Again more Korean from the phone.
Then a pause. The phone went dead.
Now what? I thought. Oh yeah, the number.
I broke out the number the director gave me the night before. I called it.
Nothing. Just a bunch of ringing.
I must have sat there for 20 minutes before I realized that in the middle of all the Korean, the voice had mentioned KT Internet. Was that the company I’d spoken with last night? Either way, he’d definitely called about the Internet.
Then I remembered my cell phone probably had his number. I found it and redialed.
After a few rings, “Yoboseyo?”
Same routine. “Hello?”
“Yoboseyo?”
“I don’t speak Korean.”
Korean from the other end. Then a pause.
“Um, address,” I said. “Address. Sangdang-dong 19 – 81…”
He interrupted, “Oh, ya, ya.” And then more Korean. And another pause.
And then he hung up.
Don’t these guys ever say bye? I thought.
And then I waited.
It wasn’t until about 10:10 that I finally decided to call some backup. I called one of my friends from the school. I had his number. He didn’t answer, though, probably asleep.
I rummaged around for my recruiter’s number. She’s been awesome for me. Surely she could help. She could call the number, figure out what he wanted – my name, my number, my credit card, whatever – and then call me back to tell me.
Right as I was about to dial, though, the intercom on my door rang. I answered.
“Hello?”
“KT Internet,” the voice said.
Needless to say, I was pretty relieved. The guy came in, hooked up my Internet, and gave me a new LAN cable since the one I had was only a few feet long.
So yes, after about a week without my own Internet connection, they jacked me back in today. And I’m happy.
The guy even gave me his number in case I want to call him again.
