Bills and letting it be

I got a slew of bills in my mailbox (actually it's more like a cubby) today. All in Korean, of course. I brought them to school and asked my co-teacher to help me with them. She told me I needed to pay the cable bill at the bank and not to worry about the rest of them. So... I won't. At home I'd be freaking out about getting all my bills paid on time. Here, if they tell me to "let it be" for now, then I'm happy to obey. Not sure when I'll be able to go to the bank to pay that cable bill since banks close at 4pm and I'm still at work then, but I'm just going to let it be.

So in many ways I'm content just letting other people tell me what to do. In other ways, it'really frustrating. Small tasks are often really big pains when you don't speak the language. Like finding index cards, for instance. Last night I went in search of a pack of index cards for some flashcards I needed for a lesson today. No luck, even in the 5 story stationary/office supply store. Either they really don't have index cards in Korea, or they don't call them card-uh. I was pretty pissed off by the time I got home. And to top it off my clothes have been falling apart. I can't blame this one on Korea, but it has happened twice in the same week to new clothes! First, the hem of my black pants came out on the way home from school. (I will blame this on the tailor I went to at home right before I came- the Golden Needle in Alameda if you're interested). Then yesterday the slit in my pencil skirt tore to twice it's original size. At least it wasn't my top that split open. In general, you're more likely to see a butt cheek than a collar bone here. Hopefully my rinky-dink drugstore sewing kit will be enough to patch up my work wardrobe. I'm nowhere near ready to venture into a Korean tailor. I do get paid tomorrow and have been itching to go shopping in the underground maze of shops by my house, but I should probably wait to spend until I see what bills I really will have to pay.