Skype and driving

I'll go ahead and reverse that order and talk about driving first.

Since this is approaching on the longest I've spent in a city the size of Seoul, it is difficult for me to differentiate between what is shared in big cities and what is unique to Seoul. With that said, I have never been so dumbfounded at the driving behaviors in this city!

As far as I can tell, police do not spend much time on traffic violations. I am used to "green = go, yellow = go faster or stop, red = stop." Here, red seems to mean either 1) "I can make it before oncoming traffic hits me," 2) "the car behind me is probably going to go as well, so I won't look quite as bad running this light," or 3) "proceed with caution." It isn't just the regular drivers either, it is taxi drivers and bus drivers. The Village Bus (Ada calls it that, but it is smaller than the other buses. I think the village bus gets kicked around by the bigger ones so I ride it to help it's self-esteem) last night was at a red light, a car was coming and the bus just went after the car passed. The light was red! Additionally, I was in a cab with Ada one day and the taxi was the sixth car to enter the intersection after the light turned red.

I really love that bus though. I am used to cars merging when given the opportunity, but this bus pulls up centimeters (I am trying to learn the metric system -- I wish they taught it to us in school...) next to the nice Hyundai, with the driver going straight and the bus trying to merge in, and the bus driver just starts honking. He waved his hands and just started going into the lane.

Streets around Ada's place are also paper thin. If I were driving here, I would consider most to be alleyways or simply parking lots because so many people just park in the street. I was walking today on a two lane road -- a TWO LANE ROAD (for emphasis) -- and half of the right lane was filled with parked cars that were up on the sidewalk. The left side mirrored the same image. This obviously made the road a one-lane road with traffic going in two directions. Despite all the honking, the drivers almost always seem very courteous. Both cars coming at each other honked and then one pulled to the side and they waved at each other. Normally I always see one of the cars yield with no yelling or obscene gestures (unless a wave means something different here...). I spent most of my day walking and witnessed one-way signs crying as they were ignored. I swear I saw tears! My first morning here I also saw a sign that had a picture of a car getting towed. I assumed that meant "don't park here, or you will be towed." Unsurprising, a car was parked as close to that pole as possible -- almost as the obligatory middle finger. I laughed to Ada about it and she just said she rarely sees tickets, fines or cars towed.

I walked a couple kilometers (AKA miles) today. Most stores seemed closed except for PC cafes and convenience stores. If only one of those SK telecom stores stayed open, they would have had 100% of the business today. The first walk I went on was to get Jasmine out for exercise. She did better this time and walked for most of the trip. I think she is trying to test my patience because she will randomly stop and shiver. I don't really want to pull her or pick her up, so I just stand there and say "come Jasmine. I have candy for you" (that works with kids). She would wait a couple minutes and then just continue walking. She did the same thing when I wanted to take a different route than her.

My second walk was to try to find a computer microphone so I could talk with Skype. I was trying to find a department store, electronic store, or street vendor that had something cheap. I walked for about an hour through the streets until I found a PC cafe that was open. The guy at the desk spoke little English, but we were able to hand-gesture our way to an understanding. He gave me directions to someplace that he believed would sell me a microphone. I realized at this point it would be good to have my phone because my phone has an English-Korean dictionary. I didn't bring it since it was low on batteries and beeping at me. I ate when I got home and charged my phone while I waited. Jasmine and I talked about interior decorating over noodles and pineapple juice.

As I took off again, I stopped at another PC cafe to see if anything was closer. This guy spoke no English, but I had my dictionary to show him "buy" and then I said microphone while demonstrating with a headset on one of the computers. He went to the back room and brought me one in a box. I was pleased because I bought these cool headphones for 3000 Won ($3) and they are made by Hyundai! They are blue and have padding to make sure it is soft. They are called "ROCK FIRE" (not in capitals, but that is how I say it).

On that note, just a little quirk of Korea, major companies seem to be somehow attached to everything commercial. There are SK gas stations and there is a band that was made to sell Samsung phones (Anyband is the band name to sell their phones, Anycall). There are other examples, but I can't think of them right now. Oh, I also saw a vending machine for candy, coffee, pop and it was a pay phone!

Back on track, I dropped my new headphones off at Ada's and logged on Skype. I started searching for JiBin's friends, but only found one (I think...I sent the person a message but she has yet to respond). I also couldn't find JiBin. My sister said she made an account, but gave me no indication as to what it is. For the record, my contact on Skype is erik.hagen2. I have a microphone now so just give me a call on Skype and we can chat!

I played around for about an hour and then decided to go for an "adventure" walk where I was just exploring the city. I was gone for about three hours because I got lost. When I got home I made dinner, watched "Sicko" and showered. Today felt boring compared to yesterday, but I somehow managed to get quite a bit written. I am impressed.