Korean Visa and Immigration office related revised service rates

Information regarding revised rates for Korean visa/immigration office related services(effective from 1^st Jan 2014).

Source: The Hikorea Site

Service Fee:

C A T E G O R Y	CURRENT (KRW)	REVISED (KRW)
Permitting Activities Outside of Sojourn Status	60,000	120,000
Change/Addition of Workplace	60,000	120,000
Grant of Sojourn Status	40,000	80,000
A Spouse of a Korean National (F-6)	20,000	40,000
Change of Sojourn Status	50,000	10,000
Change of Sojourn Status to F-5 Permanent Resident	50,000	200,000
Extending the Period of Stay	30,000	60,000
A Spouse of a Korean National (F-6)	20,000	30,000
(Re)Issuance of Alien Registration Card․Resident Registration Card	20,000	30,000
Issuance of Miscellaneous Document(s) for all Visa and Immigration-Related Matters (per copy)	1,000	2,000

3. The Effective Date : January, 1st, 2014

Reading on the Subway!

Instead of a lazy Sunday, I happened to get up early today, and take the line 4 subway. My reasons were a few. I had not travelled by subway for a long time in the last many months,  using the car or taking buses. A quiet day to be spent almost silently was part of my plan(there are days I simply switch off my mobile, stay away from computer...probably that is for another post). And, finally to get to reading "eat, pray, love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. Reading books while using trains-long distance or short, has been a favourite pastime while travelling. Probably was a little nostalgic yesterday evening. Probably really wanted to get into the groove. Have hardly read anything in the last one month of being alone here! Being just too caught up at work, reaching home and then taking up books was a bit too much for me to do. Rather, relaxing with movies seemed more palatable! 

"Eat, pray, love" has been in the left-in-the-middle state for a few months now.

And, on top of that, have bought quite a few books from Kyobo online.

It is high time I  start checking out the list of unread books at home. So off I was to the station. And to make things a little interesting, planned to reach Itaewon, have lunch, buy some foodstuff and return. There were shorter routes to go to. But since the focus was on reading while on the subway, I decided to reach the end of Line 4( Wangsimni station) and take line transfers. Almost took 1.5 hours to reach. While going, as luck would have it I stood for almost the whole distance and could hardly read a few pages. On the way back, Wangsimni being the first station, I sat the whole distance.

 About a 100 pages read, made for a very satisfying train journey!

Korean Road Naming System (도로명주소)

The new Korean address convention based on road names is supposed to become mandatory from 2014. I have seen these addresses in this format in the last couple of years and have usually abhorred using that style, finding it too inconvenient.

Last week, while searching for the pin code of our apartment, I got curious about the new format. Probably, the fact that I have been living here for some years got me so used to the land oriented lot-number addressing system rather than roads, that I disliked any change! Now that I looked a little into the naming method, I find it quite informative and useful. Locating new places is much more easier on our own. From a car navigation point of view, does not make any difference;)


So here it goes! All information is from Juso.go.kr

• Building number plate

• Road Name Assigning Method

  • Roads are divided into sections at 20 m. intervals, in west->east or south->north direction.

  • Left sides are odd-numbered while the right sides are even-numbered.

  • Intersecting streets are numerically numbered, again following the left=odd, right=even convention.

  • Finally, the main entrance of a building is given a number.

 
 

• How to read a road name plate

 

Balcony Gardening!

At home, in the balcony, we have been growing plants all these years. We have had flowering plants as well as non-flowering ones. Considering the long winters here, it is a miracle that some plants have survived beyond a year. Especially since we keep the pots at the same places all the time. Despite the glass windows, it gets incredibly cold. I call it the "survival of the fittest" test! 

Coming to the reason for this blog. We had put some bitter gourd seeds in a plastic tub to see if they can grow into plants. They grew to our surprise and started "spreading their legs"! Instead of my original idea to tie strings and make them climb, I simply placed the tub outside the balcony on a stand to have my own "hanging garden" This morning I was surprised to find small bitter gourds coming. The very first time I have seen bitter gourds growing at home! And, since bitter gourds are not so commonly sold in Korea, it was all the more special. Probably, the bitter gourds may not grow big enough, considering the weather has become colder. Maybe I should bring the tub inside with my fingers crossed! Just seeing the tiny gourds sprouting made my day!

To add to the excitement, I also noticed chilli growing in another pot!

 So much for experimenting with plants. We have had mint, coriander and fenugreek growing earlier. Will wait for winter to get over and start again with bitter gourds next year! Hopefully I can get a harvest ;)

TOPIK TEST SCHEDULE 2014

Test No.	Test Date	Registration Period	Test Locations	Test Results
33	2014.01.19	2013.12.05 to 12.18  18:00	Korea Only	2014.02.10
34	2014.04.19~04.20	2014.02.11 to 02.24  18:00	Worldwide	2014.05.30
35	2014.07.20	2014.06.09 to 06.18  18:00	Korea Only	2014.08.05
36	2014.10.11~10.12	2014.08.16 to 08.25  18:00	Worldwide	2014.12.03
37	2014.11.23	2014.10.15 to 10.24  18:00	Korea Only	2014.12.10

Unlike 4 tests in a year, for 2014, an extra test for Korea has been added considering the increasing demand for TOPIK .

Source: TOPIK.GO.KR

Walking by the woods!

청명산(CheongmyeongSan), Yeongtong

Yongin Everline (용인 에버라인)

The new subway line, Everline, connecting Yongin to the Subway system opened on 26th Apr 2013.
The line is from Kiheung to Everland. I guess it maybe quite convenient to use the subway to go to Everland from Yeongtong!

I was surprised to know that it took about 12 years to open this 18 km. line. This much time is eternity in Korea!

Everline connects to the subway system at Kiheung(Bundang Line)

It takes 60 minutes for a round-trip. Trains run from 5:30 to mid-night.

Website link is: http://www.ever-line.co.kr