alas!

I had originally intended to write my update to my payday post on that post itself, but I thought that the recent turn of events merited its own post, so the update's happening here.

Long story short: yes, I got paid—almost $200 more than I'd estimated—but no, I can't access my money. First thing tomorrow, I'll be asking the goddamn bank why this is so.

I walked halfway across Hayang in my search for a Daegu Bank branch. This turned out to be harder than it looked; I would have thought that DGB branches were everywhere. But, no: that honor goes to the local Nonghyeop Bank, which has several branches conveniently spaced along the main drag. In any case, I eventually found a DGB. I went in, took out my bank book, and immediately did a tongjang-jeongni, i.e., an arrangement or settling of accounts in my bank book. In plainer language, it meant that the ATM would print, in my bank book, my most recent account status, listing all transactions, changes to my balance, and my current balance.

I was delighted to see that the total in my account was, as I mentioned above, almost $200 more than I'd anticipated. So I eagerly went to the next step: cash withdrawal.

But I hit a snag.

For whatever reason, the ATM kept telling me that my attempts to withdraw W200,000 were in oryu, i.e., in error. The word oryu ("error") would appear, along with an impossibly long alphanumeric code that probably described exactly what sort of error I was dealing with. I pulled out my bank book and tried withdrawing cash from several of the other ATMs, but no dice. This was frustrating; I'd gotten used to having a bank book that could be used like an ATM card. That had been the case with my Shinhan and Finebank accounts.

So, first thing tomorrow, I'll visit my campus branch of Daegu Bank and find out why the hell I can't use my bank book to withdraw any cash. If that problem isn't resolved (by which I mean, if I'm still unable to use my bank book for its intended purpose), I'll just make my withdrawal at the teller's counter. I also need to send about $1400 to the States so I am start taking care of bidness. Lots of creditors to pay.


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