Hello from Seoul
greetings, and i hope that this blog finds you in good health. things are going well; the new school year at my hog-wan (after-school institution, for those who are just starting to read this now) and today was long. after four schedule changes for my own times, and finally figuring out what I'm supposed to do, the day began, and before i knew it, it was over, and the only sign that the day was so long was that my feet were sore, and my back tired.

what I'm going to try and do is to give some sort of small glimpse into what life is like here in seoul. for those of you thinking that “what, he’s been there for what, two weeks?”, you’re right. so take my glimpses with a grain of salt; however, i don’t think that there's much difference throughout the country - all facets of what i’ve experienced have been told to be true to what everything is like here in South Korea, so i don’t think i’ll be too far off.

The first facet that i’ll start with will be public transportation/cars.
Here in south Korea, especially Seoul, where everything is so cramped, public transportation is a must. not only are subway’s used to get everywhere, but buses, taxis, you name it, if you can get somewhere without driving, then its highly advised. its what you learn about each form of transportation that makes things interesting. when you’re walking anywhere, you must always obey the traffic signs, such as the walk, no walk, and blinking walk signs. in most places, people rampantly jaywalk, and you can get away with it, because most people use logic when they’re crossing the road, etc. Here, everything should be “walker-beware”...
buses here operate by their own set of rules here. there are two sets of buses, green and blue. blue are express buses, and make fewer stops. green busses are local, and do pretty much whatever they want to do. if it looks like nobody’s coming, green buses will just cross the street whenever they want, red light or not. along with buses, scooters are always hazardous; like buses, they cross the street when they want, but even more hazardous, if its more suitable for them to cross on the sidewalk, they will, with no more than a suitable honk of their horn. either one sounds dangerous, but as long as you always keep your head up, its not bad. its nice though to ride the bus if you’re in a rush....
Subways are just packed, no matter what time of the day you’re traveling. there are nine lines (i think) and they all go pretty much anywhere. here, you pay by the distance that you travel - its nice and incredibly affordable.
Cars here are the true hazard. watching them drive, its a wonder that anybody here got their license. prior to ten nears ago, the licensing wasn’t regulated, so if you wanted to drive, you could; you did not need to be fully trained; you just bought a car, and got your car license plate (which doesn’t need to be renewed) and then you’re all set. its scary. last weekend, the landlord of the house I'm presently staying in took us for a trip to a Bhudist temple - lets just say that it was quite the experience. either way, i don’t know what’s more surprising - the fact that so many people still drive, or that, no matter how poorly they drive, people don’t lose their cool over others poor driving habits- they just accept it as natural driving.
not too surprising then, in closing, is that South Korea has the third highest rate of traffic fatalities involving pedestrians. i don’t know the validity of such a fact, but i would wager that its pretty high.
well, i hope that this finds you all in good health. i’ve got to get going; lessons to prepare, places to go, people to see.
take care and God Bless
Bryan