Homeward Bound... Early

01/21/2014

I have a confession.

Due to my negligence, indiscretions and impatience I have a damaged passport. This is as specific as I'll get: Shit just happens and it's not entirely my fault.

Anyways, I had read that there's a cool new E-Passport for us Canadians on the market that lasts ten years. This can potentially be the time clock for when I have to go back home and become an adult, because I'm not going through this ordeal ever again. I decided after visiting Sorae Village to stop off at the embassy which happened to be right by the Seoul Train Station. I walked up to the main desk and showed her my passport and asked if I needed a new one. Without batting an eye she said, "Yes" in that blunt as a shovel civil servant voice.

Now I need to fill out forms, find a fellow country (wo)men to be my guarantor and then return to Seoul ASAP. Thus, I'm going home on the first train to Busan and here I am.

This alters my route but the list of cities to visit remains the same (it didn't for long).

 Photos 01/22/2014

I went to E-Mart the night before to get my passport photos done. From the beginning I didn't feel I was doing the right thing. I got the right size at least and then I asked her to stamp the date and company info on the back. The photographer gave me those big popping eyes I had seen in Cafe O'Fete. Fuck. I rolled mine as she bee-lined it to the phone. Time to speak to the English Associate of E-Mart.

She was passable at best. My eyes got a serious workout. She didn't know what a stamp was either nor the action of stamping. WHAT WAS YOUR REWARD AS A STUDENT IN PUBLIC SCHOOL!!! Turns out there are no stamps for this kind of procedure. Wait, hold on, you're telling me the Wal-Mart of Korea doesn't have a certifiable passport photo process? The EA told me the photographer can just write the information down. Her writing took up the entire back of the photo. Why should I be surprised the nimrod told me to smile for my passport photo.

Once I returned to the embassy I presented the woman I talked to yesterday with the photos taken the night before. She took them to the backroom and claimed the photographer used an odd lighting making the photographs invalid. I hope people will happily accept straight-faced, wallet-size, autographed photos of your's truly for the next 10 birthdays/ Bar Mitzvahs on my calendar. Just kidding, I threw them out in a cyclone of rage. The woman behind the glass told me there was a studio across the road that'll know exactly what to do. They did, I walked out, but not before the man behind the lens gave me two of the sweetest tangerines I've ever eaten. The entire hour of good things made me feel so much better, I treated myself and bought A Clash of Kings to occupy myself on my way to Daegu for the night and the long road ahead to Haenam to my guarantor.