ESL Adventures

Yesterday I went to Lotte Mart to finally do some grocery shopping and buy some much needed things for my apartment (a wireless router being the primary one). With two large pillows and three bags of groceries and my bag full of work stuff and my purse, I wasn’t eager to walk the mile back to my apartment. So I caught a cab.

Now I have had extensive experience with the cab drivers in Yangsan, where I lived the last time. They generally drove like nuts, but I never feared for my life. Last night, I really thought I was going to die.

It seems like the little things we take for granted in the US don’t apply here. You know, the small things, like stopping for red lights and not driving the wrong way down one way streets.

The part of Ulsan I live in is dominated by one major road and tons of one way back streets. I live and work on one such street.

So this cab driver last night did a u-turn onto that very large, very busy road.  Then he turned left on red.  Then he started weaving through the back streets going way faster than I ever would (and I’m not known for driving particularly slow).

I’m sure this cab driver is a very nice man.  But I think I’ll pass out if I ever see him again. I was shaking so badly, I could barely get out of the cab and into the apartment building.

I was struggling to get all of my stuff up three flights of steps.  A nice gentleman who lived on the second floor saw me struggling up the steps and took pity on me.  He carried all of my stuff from Lotte Mart up to my apartment for me and brought it into the kitchen (thank goodness it was clean, LOL).  I must have said thank you about twenty times.