Have I told you how much I miss my car

Midterms today. I’ve finished my outline for the rest of the semester for my after school class. Desk warming the entire day.

It’s been a good two months-ish since I’ve dropped everything and moved to Korea. I quickly realized how spoiled I am back home. I’ve got a lot of first world problems following me arround. Not just because of the luxuries that my parents provided me but living in Los Angeles I think, or maybe coming from the states.

One of the things I miss the most, among many is my car or at least being able to drive/commute to places on my own. This comes very clear to me especially when I’m walking to school or walking home from school. I have 4 options to get to school, maybe 5 depending on how you look at it.

1. Taxi – but who can afford to take a taxi every day times two.

2. Bus – the bus runs pass my school, maybe every hour or so?  I have to walk to the bus station which is a good 10 minutes from my apartment because there’s no bus stops along the way. It’s a hit and miss with the buses.

3.Get a bike – I really considered doing this option but I just couldn’t figure it all out. Where was I going to store my bike? What am I going to do with the bike after? It is really okay riding a bike to school (safety wise).

4.Walk – which I do, the majority of the time.

5.Carpool (kinda) – more like I randomly get picked up by other teachers who see me walking cause I guess I stand out and they can tell it’s me. And I’m so grateful that they stop. I never hesitate to jump in no how far from school or home I am.

So, let me tell you about the commute mainly walk.

First let’s explain the dynamics of my little town. Even though my county, Chilgok (칠곡군) has the -gun attached to the end of it officially making it a rural county it’s pretty developed compared to other rural counties. Waegwan (왜관), my city does have a lot of the benefits of an urban city. There’s coffee shops, a supermarket, a downtown area and the majority of things that you find in any city just a little limited. I think that’s because there’s a US military base close by or in my city I’m not 100% sure. But we’re pretty small. It’s one straight line. I can walk from one end to another in about 15-20 minutes depending on my mood and speed or if I’m running late.

The Nakdong river separates school and home. Yes, I cross the river 5 days a week to get to work. I literally walk into the mountains to get to school. So here’s the deal, how long does it take me? Walking take me a total about a half an hour  while driving to school take 10 minutes tops. It takes me about 10 minutes to walk from my apartment to the bridge that I use to cross the river. This bridge also acts as a highway for cars. I don’t mind too much because there’s a sidewalk and a barrier between the road and sidewalk. Walking the the bridge take me another 10 minute-ish  to get all the way across. Now here’s the sketchy part. At the end of the bridge the sidewalk disappears and it’s just the highway. So, I walk along the side of the off ramp, yes the off ramp to get off the bridge. Once off the bridge it takes me another 10 minutes to get to school. I walk though two different tunnels where at one point I’m in the blind spot of cars. Then up a tiny hill and straight ahead is school.

(this is the view of my walk to school on the bridge over the river)

oh boy.

more next time.

xoxo.