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Homer
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 Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:18 pm Post subject: |
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The bar was in Somyon itaewonguy....does that mean anything to you? 
They asked all the foreigners there for their ARCs and took 3 of them who did not have these to the station (I assume this as they left 'escorted' by other officials).
No big deal, many teachers hang out there and immigration must have thought this was a good chance for a spot check.
It happened at another bar in Somyon (Cowboys) back in 1997 when I first arrived. That time I got taken to the station as I did not have my ARC yet. It was all sorted out when they called my hagwon boss.
Like it was said in this thread, if you are legal, you got no worries here.... |
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Cthulhu
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 7:17 pm Post subject: |
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Mine happened in Somyon too, though it was at the Basic Beer Mart in '97. Remember those?  |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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| SweetLou wrote: |
| english teachers aren't the only ones who deal with immigration, eh? and while they're concentrating on racially profiling the 3D workers, why not check up on the westerners they see as well? |
Oh, English teachers definitely aren't the only ones caught in these dragnets.
This happened last summer. After meeting with a client, I was leaving the headquarters of a bank near City Hall. I had just stepped outside as two middle-aged guys in suits and frowns were about to walk in. I was wearing a suit & tie, carrying a briefcase, and my secretary was with me.
I almost immediately sensed that these guys were probably from the IO... just something about their "caught off-guard" reaction to seeing me. As if here were two hunters heading off on safari, when suddenly their quarry (me) leaps out in front of them. My guess is they were staking out the bank branch in the lobby, waiting for foreign teacher types to emerge WITH their passbooks (containing potentially damning evidence).
We were sort of in a hurry, but I intentionally slowed down long enough to give them my "nervous, shifty-eyed weigookin" shtick, just to see whether my inkling was correct. And it was.
They muttered to each other: "What about this guy? Should we? Okay." Then (so pathetic it was funny) their frowns turned to big beaming smiles and they gave me a very polite verbal frisking, in quite good English, too. They asked to see my ARC, and I also showed them my driver's licence. After the grilling, we kibitzed with them briefly in Korean, and they invited me and my secretary to join them for coffee --  -- but we didn't have time (or the slightest interest).
While waiting almost a century an empty cab, we saw those two sidle up to a lanky white dude with a knapsack who just happened to be walking past the bank. Too far away to hear the conversation, but they let him go and went back inside the lobby. |
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Homer
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:06 am Post subject: |
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Beer Mart!
Indeed I remember those Cuthulu, we used to go there quite often back then! |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 9:49 am Post subject: |
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| What/where is/was "Beer Mart"? |
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itaewonguy
Joined: 25 Mar 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Cthulhu wrote: |
| Mine happened in Somyon too, though it was at the Basic Beer Mart in '97. Remember those? |
yes I do.. as I use to go there and go to COWBOYS in 97..
I was living and working in somyon then pretty much moved over to gwangari for the summer then over to PNU for the rest of the year...
yeeaaahhhhh 97 in PUSAN never forget it..
I never got stopped by immigration in a bar..
got stopped by the bastardss in my work though!
they came straight in and said "we are immigration show me your visa!
which I didnt have.. so they arrested me.. and the funny thhing is..
down at nampodong immigration.. they had a HUGE TYPO on the wall..
it read like this.. PUSAN IMMIGRTION hahahhaah thought that was funny.
anyway got 0ut of there and never had any problems with immigration ever again.. just heard stories of guys that did..
wow I think the locals from 97 cowboys might know each other,..
wasnt that many foreigners .. ohhh actually yeah that was! hahhahah |
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Cthulhu
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 12:42 pm Post subject: |
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Ah, the Cowboy...I stopped into the Cowboy from time to time, though I spent far more time at the Dallas and Legion Club in '97... 
JongnoGuru wrote:
| Quote: |
| What/where is/was "Beer Mart"? |
A bar that looked like half bar and half convenience store. You would purchase your bottles of beer from the refrigerators (nothing on tap), grab some cheap squid/peanut snacks from the aisles, pick up the bottle opener, ashtray etc. and pay for it all at the checkout. Simple and fairly cheap. It had a no frills interior but lots of space. Crappy by today's standards but pretty unique in its day and a nice change from other Korean bars where you were strongly "encouraged" to purchase the overpriced side dishes. Plus it was a nice place to look for the ladies. There were a number of different ones all over owned by different people. It was a fad that pretty much came and went similar to the international beer bars, faux Western-style bars, chicken+beer type places and other "theme" bars that came afterward. |
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noelinkorea
Joined: 09 Apr 2003
Location: Shinchon, Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject: my experience |
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| My co-worker and I were travelling home on the green line last year from a work dinner when a drunk-as-anything man came up to us, trying hard not to fall over us and told us he was from the immigration office, and asked to see our ARCs. Given that he was drunk, we didn't bother. We let him annoy us for a minute - probably just wanted to prvoe he could speak (piecemeal) English to us, and then we jumped off the next stop. We never checked his name, or else would have complained...actually, my co-worker's Korean husband did complain, I remember... |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 3:06 am Post subject: |
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Cuthulu...ya went to the Big D and Legion back in '97???
Those were dumps indeed....I also went there with some buddies back then but I usually ended up at the now gone Chicken Shack...best deep fried chicken I ever had there...  |
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bucheon bum
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: immigration officials at subway stations |
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| SweetLou wrote: |
I was walking into Singil Station and earlier today and was approached by 3 officials from immigration. They showed me their ID and what not and started asking to see my ARC, asking me if I taught English, etc. After about 2 or 3 minutes of this, I was able to go.
For those of you working privates, I'd advise you to work on your story so that, in any event you get stopped, you can walk away without any problems.
Anyone else bump into these dudes? |
uh I really, really doubt the immigration guys gave a rat's ass about privates. And you'd have to be paranoid and nervous around gov't officials not to automatically say, "No" if they asked you if you taught outside your work place. |
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Cthulhu
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 5:56 pm Post subject: |
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homer wrote:
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Cuthulu...ya went to the Big D and Legion back in '97???
Those were dumps indeed....I also went there with some buddies back then but I usually ended up at the now gone Chicken Shack...best deep fried chicken I ever had there... |
Woohoo! I loved the chicken shack...and the yakemandu...filled many a rough, soju-filled belly I'll tell 'ya. Though the cheap ramyun+egg combo in the Legion was great at 4 a.m. in the morning.... |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 4:20 am Post subject: |
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Ah memories of the Chicken Schack at 4 am! Those were the days...  |
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dogbert
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: Killbox 90210
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 7:55 am Post subject: |
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| Homer wrote: |
| Ah memories of the Chicken Schack at 4 am! Those were the days... |
Do you still live in Pusan? |
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bosintang
Joined: 01 Dec 2003
Location: In the pot with the rest of the mutts
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| Posted: Sat Jan 08, 2005 2:06 pm Post subject: Re: immigration officials at subway stations |
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| bucheon bum wrote: |
| SweetLou wrote: |
I was walking into Singil Station and earlier today and was approached by 3 officials from immigration. They showed me their ID and what not and started asking to see my ARC, asking me if I taught English, etc. After about 2 or 3 minutes of this, I was able to go.
For those of you working privates, I'd advise you to work on your story so that, in any event you get stopped, you can walk away without any problems.
Anyone else bump into these dudes? |
uh I really, really doubt the immigration guys gave a rat's ass about privates. And you'd have to be paranoid and nervous around gov't officials not to automatically say, "No" if they asked you if you taught outside your work place. |
Hehe, that's what I was thinking. What an extremely innefficient waste of resources trying to catch people working illegally, if in fact, that's what they were trying to do. |
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JongnoGuru
Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep
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| Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:05 pm Post subject: Re: immigration officials at subway stations |
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| bosintang wrote: |
| Hehe, that's what I was thinking. What an extremely innefficient waste of resources trying to catch people working illegally, if in fact, that's what they were trying to do. |
Hardly inefficient, I would think, as these are public servants, already on the government payroll, can't be fired, and would otherwise be loitering around the vending machine or shuffling papers back in the office.
Far more efficient to sic them on the foreign teacher population where, in a good month, they might well earn their annual salary in fines from teachers, housewives and hagwon owners. |
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