I guess I had a bad day

Elyse Sewell is currently living in Seoul. There's really no reason you should know who she is. I wouldn't know her either if it wasn't for America's Next Top Model being one of the few shows we have here in English. I don't know why but it's comforting to read about another person's observations about Korea and realize it's not just me. Patrick and Lily have similar problems at school and with the social aspects of Korean culture but they're my friends and I tend to gravitate towards people with a certain mind set. I've never met Elyse and her rants are similar to the ones the three of us have while watching ANTM. What's the point of this?

I'll start with events upon arriving home yesterday. Shortly after I got back I heard tires screeching and two objects colliding. Let me just note I'm surprised I don't see more accidents on my street because the driving I've witnessed for the past year plus I've been here is atrocious. Taxis, cars, and buses constantly run red lights and generally have little regard for pedestrians.

After the sound of impact I heard half hearted screams like this woman was auditioning for a slasher film. Here's my take on what was going on in this woman's mind:

Oh no! That person was just hit by a car. I can't believe it. 어떡해?!? (What do I do?) Well, in the movies and on T.V. the girls usually scream. "Ahhhhh." Hmmm. That wasn't so good. I'll try again. "AHHHH!" That was a little better. I can act!

I might be wrong about the exact mental process there but I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it.

The po-po showed up surprisingly quickly and was marking the tires of the taxi? I'm no CSI but WTF! Instead of keeping a crowd away there were about five or six people standing over the person. The person was moving an arm so it hopefully wasn't too bad but I'm pretty sure none of those people were licensed professionals, just gawkers coming in for a closer look.

After marking the tires the cop was directing traffic around the stopped taxi (no hazard lights flashing in fact cop car didn't have its lights on either). True to Korean driving fashion some asshole...wait let me get into his mind:

Ayeshiiii! Why is this traffic backed up? That whole lane is open. Why is everyone driving around this taxi? Screw this traffic I'm entitled to get where I need to go no matter what. Why is this cop yelling at me? Hey, there's been an accident. Oh look yellow light. I bet I can make it through before it turns red. (Speeds off) So long suckers.

Again I can't guarantee 100% accuracy here.

I'm starting to come to terms with the fact that I kind of had a bad day yesterday. Sure the Red Wings went up 3-0 on the Avalanche but based on the box scores and me continually checking Yahoo! during the course of the game I don't fully trust the goal tending. Hasek has been pulled in favor of Osgood and Osgood hasn't shut anyone down. At least in the past two games they've nearly blown the lead. This series could easily be 2-1 Avalanche. If Ozzie lets anyone score from the blue line Wings are done. Has that happened yet this post season?

How do I transition from that? I can't.

This is a pretty regular annoyance in Korea. People just like to walk into you. I generally don't take too much offense to it but again I'm ready to take the first step and admit: I kind of had a bad day yesterday. I left the gym and was feeling fairly good. It was still warm out and I felt comfortable being outside in the t-shirt soaking in the smog and yellow dust. I'm walking towards the door to my building and the sidewalk is empty except for the two other people. This dude probably in his forties walks perpendicular to the way I'm walking and instead of crossing behind me decides to walk right into me. I can't even begin to rationalize this so I won't try. Instead of stopping and saying something he continues to try to walk through me. Because of the workout testosterone levels were high and I wasn't yielding to my 형 (elder brother) with some majorly fucked up teeth so I pushed back at him and we had a stare down. He walked away but I continued to hold my stare for second or two longer, while attracting the attention of the other guy on the sidewalk, before going inside. I'm sure Lily has blogged about people randomly running into you as well. (And man she sometimes freaks out about it!) I'm just too lazy to find it.

One last thing. Tried to play a game with the students and give them chocolate for "winnning" but the last class was a bunch of "...half dead motherfucker[s]." This may have been the beginning of my ill humor.