saved by AL!

I woke up this morning to the alarm clock on my cellphone as I have every morning for the last two and a half years. And just like most mornings, I dropped it on the floor, but THIS morning, it actually broke. I mean I literally decapitated my flip phone. It broke off above the hinge, and its innards were all hanging out. sigh. I was really stressed because I'll only be here till June, and Korean cellphones only work in Korea. I didn't want to buy a new one! So I took the phone and all its parts to the shop where I purchased it. Al is the gentle giant that fronts the store, and he is striking both for his good English and his exceptional tallness. So I told Al I broke my phone and mourned that it probably couldn't be fixed, but he asked to look at it anyway. I hand him all the parts and he says, "Oh! This case is old! Do you want it now?" What? You can fix it? Really? "Yeah," he says, "I have another one. :) Okay....How long? "Can you wait about ten minutes?" he says.
I told him it was definitely worth the wait, so I sat down and watched him as he took the electronic guts out of my phone and put them in the donor phone, and presto change-o I have my phone! with my contacts and ring settings! and my phone number! I was ecstatic. And the cost? $35 and in the end, about twenty minutes of my time. I laughed all the way to yoga. I restrained myself from hugging Al, since that's not really appropriate here, but I thanked him profusely because this NEVER would have happened in the states. I would have a new phone or would still be waiting in customer service purgatory, and I would have ended up paying a month's salary for the privilege.
The Koreans are truly more efficient than we are on sooo many levels. I'll miss that about this country.