Today I was walking down the main street to my house, which is about 2 kms long. As I was walking, I heard the sound of an emergency vehicle. The sound kept ringing at the same level for a couple of minutes. I thought the problem was where the sound was coming from.
It was actually an ambulance at a crossroad, trying to get to the other side of the main street. As I stood waiting to cross the road, I was horrified to see that the ambulance was stuck in the same spot and none and I mean none of the vehicles were stopping to let it across. Never mind that, they never even slowed down when they heard the sound or saw the ambulance.
There is a total lack of disrespect for emergency vehicles in Korea. The people don't care about them and it is something that should be addressed. This is not the first time that I have seen this. I have seen the same thing with fire vehicles also. It is just the first time that I have remembered to talk about it.
It was quite shocking to me and I just thought to myself how I would feel if I was the person in the back of that ambulance or the person waiting to get taken to the hospital. Those precious few minutes could mean the difference between life and death........ such a shame that the Koreans don't even think about that.
Further on from that is the general lack of good manners while driving. People turning right on red lights don't merge, they just pull round the corner. I wondered when I first got here why all the bus drivers and taxi drivers were honking the horn when they got to an intersection. It was because they saw a car approaching to turn right and were warning them not to turn in front of them!!!!!!!
People will pull their cars right smack in the middle of a bus stop where people are waiting. Cars will block the driveways anywhere, even the crosswalks or not even wait for you if you are using a crosswalk.
Scooters drive on the sidewalk and are a constant pest while you are walking. Even when the drivers pull over, they don't pull tight to the curb. They will pull over and have their cars turned at 45 degrees sometimes, blocking a lane and a half. They make buses go round them at bus stops, or the bus will stop two lanes over from the bus stop as there are so many cars blocking the bus stop.
Taxis will stop and pull over literally anywhere. I mean that in the true sense of the word. They will just decide to stop and that is where they stop. It is quite frustrating sometimes if you are waiting for a taxi or in the taxi itself. Again, something that needs to be addressed, but sadly it is not going to happen sometime soon.
One thing for sure is that you have to remember this motto when you come to Korea; "Cars first, people second." If you remember that, you will be safe most of the time. Don't ever forget that if you come here, or you could end up being seriously hurt or having some kind of injury.
One thing you never see here is bicycles on the road. They stay on the sidewalk. Now I know why.........it would be suicide to ride on the road!!!!!!
Today is Tuesday and Liverpool play in the Champions League tonight. A win coupled with a draw or loss by Galatasaray against PSV Eindhoven and we are through to the next phase. It will be on tv and probably on Star Sports. I have a program now on my computer called TVAntz. I can watch ESPN live and all the football from the Premier League. It is awesome.
They even had the Man City vs Middlesborough game on early this morning live at 3.45am. They have games on tonight, but I think it will be the Chelsea vs Barcelona game. I am sure that Star Sports will have the Liverpool game on though. Last time they showed the Liverpool game first and then the Chelsea game...... let's hope they do the same thing. I will be awake for it.
I have about half of my essays done now..... cruising I think for the next day or two. Went to the gym last night and didn't run at all. Needed a break. Just did some shoulders and biceps and had a nice soak in the cold bath and the very hot sauna. I am off there again tonight and will just run for about 35 to 40 minutes. No weight training tonight though.
It's Halloween as we all know, but in Korea you would never know it. Avalon have a few decorations up, but all in all the spirit has been lost, or was it ever even there?
Anyway, the kids were bugging us for candies and I told them to bitch to Avalon, as there was no way I was buying candies for 100 of my own students. Avalon are rolling in the bucks and didn't even give the kids any candies.
Excuse me, they did give some to the Korean teachers to give to the kids, but the foreigners didn't get given any. A few of the teachers mentioned something about it and were a little pissed off at the whole situation. We are dealing with 800 students after all.
Rebecca is going to be the new head teacher here at Sunae starting in December when she gets back from her vacation in Canada. Wayne is moving into a supervisory role at Migum, which some say is the trouble campus. We shall see how he likes it there.......I will keep you posted as to how things go.
As I mentioned before, they asked me if I was interested in the head teachers job at one of the campuses, but I told them I am going for a nice long holiday with no set date to be back and was going into Seoul when I returned. As I said before, there are loads of jobs out there with half the workload and the same pay compared to Avalon.
I will hurdle that obstacle when it comes anyway.
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