02-1330

cut and paste from this article:

You're in the middle of an enjoyable tour when you can't find the tourist destination looking for. After walking around for an hour with no luck, you decide to find a PC cafe to surf and find the info you need, but only after tediously sifting through an incredible amount of completely useless info. In the meantime, you've wasted touring time.

waste no more. With the KTO's Korea Travel Phone 1330, travelers have instant tourist information at the tip of the finger. No more juggling tourist pamphlets. No more fingering through thick travel books. No more frantic Internet searches. Korea Travel Phone's staff are on-call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

calls are directed to a KTO-run call center where your questions will be answered by a bilingual tourism professional. Service in available in English, Korean, Japanese and Chinese. From a standard phone, dial 1330. From a cell phone, add Seoul area code 02 before 1330. If you’d like information specific to a particular province, add the area code of the region before entering 1330 (if you're using a cell phone, be sure NOT to enter 02 unless you want information on Seoul). If you're calling from abroad, enter Korea's nation code 82 and the provincial area code before 1330.Users are charged local telephone rates.
============================

says SupaFly: dude, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, dial 02-1330 from your cell phone for anything. this number has been of help to me so many times. i'll call:

• "i live in jamsil, where can i buy art supplies?" ~try lotte dpt store, second floor, next to toysRus, a shop called alpha.


• "how do i get to On The Border?" ~take the subway and get off sinchon exit x, walk straight for x meters, it's on second floor on the left.


• i live in pyeongchon. whats the fastest way for me to get to the airport? ~you can take a shuttle direct to the airport for 10,000 won from beomgye, one subway stop away from you.


• "im thirsty. how do i ask for water in korean?" ~mul, gusayo.

friggin awesome.

break out

what a great quote. i pulled it from this girl's blog.

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."

- Mark Twain

how to get started

march 17, 2009
Hey S...,I ran into someone over the weekend who's looking into teaching english abroad. She mentioned doing it in China but she didn't know about S. Korea, Thailand, and all the other places she could go (and that's just in Asia). I told her I was very, very well connected in this area because I know you and you know everyone (who really matters).So, could I ask for a favor. Could you send me some weblinks to the programs that you'd recommend? I guess not just the ones in S. Korea but in all of Asia. The only other one I know about is JET, and I guess I can tell her about them although they are too prissy.
==================

march 17, 2009
dude, if i had a cell phone number, a home number, and a work number, would you leave me voicemails at all three? dont send mail to 3 of my email adresses, just use one.>< href="http://forums.eslcafe.com/http://forums.eslcafe.com/job/">daves. tell her to read the FAQ and ignore all the negative stuff. the korea forum is so huge, it has it's own spot.

she can google the name of the country she's interested in, and "esl" and she'll get tons of results. she can google "expat blog" and read blogs of peoples experiences.

once she's ready to find a job, she can use any recruiter. they're all the same in that they introduce you to the school, as long as they dont as you for any money, they're trustworthy (they are paid by the school that hires you). i believe jet is a program specifically for working in public schools in japan. a popular one is footprints, they do china, korea, japan, thailand, not sure where else.

she can read my blog, which is the best.

hope this helps. eat a carne asada burritio for me... i miss cali...*sniffle*

student loans

a friend of mine asked me a student loan question. maybe you're wanting to put off paying them for a while (paying off credit card bills first, maybe you got a the brains to invest and make your money grow bigger than the 3% insterest loans charge, whatever). btw, if youre a fresh graduate: consolidate your student loans. google "consolidate" and do it. it locks the interest rate to about 3% for the life of the loan. here is a little clarification about deferring/forbearing:

Did you ever defer on your student loans while here in Korea and if so did you tell them you received any income?
--------------------------

i never lie about my income, i cant break the law, it would break my mother's heart. and actually, im 99% sure you'll want to request a Forbearance, not a deferment.

Forbearance is when you ask to stop paying for x amount of time (the interest will still accumulate) no matter the circumstances and no matter how much money you make. Deferment is when you stop paying for x amount of time due to specific circumstances like being unemployed, being back in school, military service, etc.

Do you know what company your loans are through? find the website and register. my loans are through salliemae, i was able to go to the website and submit my request online. you'll probably be able to print the form and mail it in, or fax it. Or sometimes you can "electronically sign" it, where the website will ask you to enter a secret code or something.
hope this helps.

~SupaFly