The good news is, if you wake up really early, you can get all the paper wedding work done in a morning. Mrs. Roboseyo and I did exactly that yesterday. The even better good news was that just in case there WERE lines, Jagiseyo (see what I'm doing here?) had cleared the entire day... and then we totally got the afternoon free. So we went to Wood & Brick, a great bakery to visit in the evening, when their stocks are almost sold out, but an AMAAAZING bakery to visit in the morning, when the sourdough rye is still warm. We loaded up on good breadstuffs, and had an easy afternoon that involved Seokchon Lake Park in Jamsil, the best Jajangmyeon I've had in my life, and a movie in Myeongdong.
And the paper wedding is done. We're officially married, all three ways: in a church, in front of a crowd, and in the district office.
The only drawback was that the Korean district office needed a week to send the official certificate, which means that while I got 80% of the immigration work done to apply for my F-2 (marriage) visa, I'll have to go back there with that documents to get the final stamp on it.
Fortunately for Yobo-seyo, the immigration official was very understanding about her work schedule, and said that if I find her back when I return later, Wifeoseyo doesn't need to be there in person, so long as I have all the documents she needed.
Anyway, we saw "Salt" - the new Angelina Jolie movie, which has made me decide/realize two things.
1. Angelina Jolie is the most convincing female hollywood action hero since Sigourney Weaver in the Alien movies. Who else is even in the running? Mila Jovovich for Resident Evil, Uma Thurman for Kill Bill (but have you seen "My Super Ex-Girlfriend"? Just about cancels it all out.) Michelle Rodruigez, but she's having trouble graduating from "Member of the rag-tag group who saves the day" to "Serious headliner" Anybody I'm missing? And don't you dare say the Charlie's Angels' ladies. Michelle Yeoh kicks ALL their asses sideways till tuesday... that's why I said "Hollywood female action heroes"
2. If you're a major hollywood star, and you throw a bone to Korean audiences, they will reward you with SO much love, and probably an extra half-million ticket receipts. Hugh Jackman, Angelina Jolie, Nicholas Cage: they visited Seoul, and said some nice things about the country and the food, and now Roboseyette absolutely adores them. (conversely, if you are mean about Korea, you may face a backlash... sometimes with a long memory. Oprah.)
Then, the big bummer of the day:
I've always said I love that Korea's a really honest country: I once left my shoulder-bag on the back of a chair in a PC room and the next morning it was still there, un-touched, and un-looted. On the other hand, maybe the law of averages had to exert itself:
After having a really, really wonderful day, in the taxi on the way home, I realized that my wallet was missing. And it was full of cash - full - after I'd changed almost a year's worth of coin-change into cash this week. It might have fallen out of my pocket during the movie (which wasn't that impressive - Manchurian Candidate + more explosions, basically), but I'm pretty conscientious about that stuff; I think it might have been pick-pocketed. Bummer.
Also gone: my Alien Registration Card, my Korean Driver's License, my Korean bank card, my Canadian bank card, and my Canadian credit card. Some frequent user stamp cards from some coffee shops. An old student ID card with a really funny picture which I'd kept in there to crack people up (totally irreplaceable). My costco card. (NNNNOOOOOOOOO!)
NOT gone:
My birth certificate, which I fortuitously removed from the wallet this afternoon thinking, "It's best not to carry this around everywhere"
My passport
My Canadian driver's license
--which is to day, I didn't lose anything that's worse than inconvenient or annoying to replace, except that student card. Made the phone calls, froze my credit cards - nobody'd tried to use them, anyway, and now I have to ask them to issue me a new Alien Card at Immigration, I guess. Came out of it relatively unharmed... though a little humbled, a little more cautious, and large payer of the "stupid tax" this month.
So... here's the choice:
Wifeoseyo
Yobo-seyo
Mrs. Roboseyo
Roboseyette
Jagiseyo
and while The Mrs. has final veto, and I'm giving myself five votes, I'm making a poll: how do you think I should refer to the Mrs. on my blog, now that we're married?