FINALLY. I got my ARC and set up my bank account last Friday but didn't have time to get my phone on Saturday, and Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) meant everything was closed Monday through Wednesday.
I set out early Thursday morning in search of the Olleh global store downtown. I was told to go to Jongno3(sam)ga station and go out exit one, walk for 5-10 minutes, and it would be on the right. It would be in a tall building with little flags showing which languages were spoken there.
I got out of exit 1 around 9:30, and I knew most places didn't open until 10, so I popped into a coffee shop for a little while and took full advantage of their free WiFi. At 10, I left and started walking down the street. I saw a small Olleh store, but no flags, so I kept going. I saw a second small Olleh store, but still no flags...so I kept going. I found a third one and figured I'd just go in and ask because I had to have missed it.
So I went into this little Olleh store, a little nervous because I'm not really sure how to ask where the global store is. I looked up different phone and phone-plan related words, but I never thought to look up how to say "global store." I walked up to the counter and managed to convey that I wanted to get a phone and phone plan but needed an employee who spoke English. They said they didn't have anybody there, and I told them I could walk to the global store if they could tell me where it was. They said no no no no, it's okay, we'll call someone down here.
Yup. That's right. They called an employee from the global store and had them walk down to this other branch to help me. You want customer service? Top notch, right there. I felt bad at first, but they were super nice about it.
While we were waiting for the English-speaking employee to walk down, one of the other employees asked if I needed a phone or already had one. I said I didn't have one, so he asked if I already knew what I wanted. When I told him no, he took me over to the case and talked with me about various models. After some discussion I picked out the one I liked and he started helping me choose a plan based on that model. Initially he had me on a plan with unlimited data, but I didn't think I'd use nearly that much. I ended up choosing a plan with 1.5GB of data, 200 minutes, and I forget how many text messages (incoming calls and texts are free) for about 75,000 a month (around $75/mo). I'm not overly concerned about my call and text allowance because I do the majority of my communication over KakaoTalk. The plan I picked also includes free access to all of Olleh's many WiFi hotspots around the city. It's immensely satisfying to finally be able to connect to those - whenever I'd be out and about during my WiFi-only periods both this year and last year, I'd see those and be so frustrated that I couldn't connect because they're seriously everywhere. But now I can. HA.
So by the time the English-speaking employee arrived, I had already done a lot of the difficult work and all I really needed her help for was some of the contract terms. I have a 24-month contract now (I'm stuck in the country for 2 years oh darn) and a really pretty new special-edition Samsung Galaxy s5. The waterproof one. They also gave me two cases, one of which is an immensely useful wallet/phone case combo, with my new contract and phone.
I plan on taking Ingrid back to that store once the iPhone 6 is released (because that's the phone she wants) and helping her get set up now that I've been through it all. I have a copy of my contract, so I'll be able to more easily pick up the vocab and think through some sentences in advance so I'm not stuttering and stammering my way through things like I was when getting my phone. I'll also have internet access, so I'll be able to use the good dictionaries while talking. That has definitely been my biggest stumbling block and I'm so glad to finally have that resource again.
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