As soon as I arrived in Incheon Airport in Seoul I exchanged some of my greenbacks for Korean won. I turned in $1000 and received 904,000 won. That’s quite a difference from three years ago when a grand would net me almost 1,200,000 won.

The way I look at it, US$1 is worth approximately 1000 won, give or take a few won. So, if you consider I had $1000 when I stepped off the plane, it took only a few days for a fool and his money to part. I spent $96 of it just changing it to k-won, most of that in exchange rates but some went to fees. I spent it all on (mostly) good things, though. It breaks down like this:

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  • $400 for a ’94 Hyundai Elantra. (motorcycles are fun, but I can never get the heaters to work on the damn things.)
  • $250 Health club membership for 6 months
  • $ 70 groceries
  • $ 30 power supply for the computer. (My motherboard wouldn’t work with the computer they gave me)
  • $ 35 household goods like soap, papertowels, etc.
  • $ 40 a night out for dinner with MyeongHee and her friends.
  • $ 30 on taxi rides around town
  • $ 94 on exchange rate and fees
  • $ ?? beer

I still need to pay for insurance for the car, which will cost me another $450 for the year. After that, though, my expenses should drop dramatically. Nothing else but food, gas and entertainment to pay for until March 1st when I get paid again. Gas, by the way, is quite a bit higher here than in the US; I’ll be paying close $4.50 – $5.00 per gallon of gas.