My new cell phone

My supervisor took me to get a cell phone yesterday evening. Foreigners can't get phones unless a Korean signs the contract for them, so my supervisor Angie was nice enough to do that. Evidently everyone needs one here (probably a good idea, in case I get lost). And, everyone uses their cell phone here way more than in the U.S. (if you can believe that). People are on them all the time...in the subway, at dinner...basically anywhere you can think of. They are much more high-tech (some of them have TVs on them) and people hang charms off of them to individualize them. Anyway, I didn't want to spend a lot on a phone or a monthly plan since I'll only be here a year so I went with the cheapest model they had, about $70. Their crappiest phone is much nicer than the phone I had in the U.S. It has a digital camera built in, an FM radio (I can listen to radio on my phone) and a UV index meter. That's right, just point your phone at the sun and it will give you the UV reading of the day. What?!

I don't get charged for incoming calls (unlike the U.S.) and I can use calling cards on it for free. For local calls I'll just pay for the time I use. Pretty sweet deal.