Skip to main content

Korean Drivers Manual

1 - First and foremost, you are the only car on the road. Please drive this way.

2 - Be sure to keep a tally of the number of pedestrians you hit. 10 points for old ladies, 20 for young children (they can run faster you see). You can also add 5 points for each near miss and pat yourself on the back for trying.

3 - Red lights can tend to get in the way of your driving. Simply proceed through them if you need to. Honk your horn to make sure the cars that actually have the right of way know you'll be sailing through the intersection.

4 - Signalling is recommended but your car does not have blind spots. Just go ahead an change lanes.

5 - It works best if you keep one foot on the gas and one foot on the brakes at all times. This will allow you to continually pump the breaks all the way down the street avoiding 'other cars' while still revving your engine and going at the speed of light during those intervals when you are not slamming on your brakes. (By 'other cars' I mean ones that aren't 'really there' as, we'ver already discussed, you are the only car on the road)

6 - If you're driving a standard car, make sure you rarely change gears. If you must, wait until your engine sounds like the space shuttle and be sure to jerk and grind the gears to their maxiumn capacity.

7 - Lanes don't really exist. Just drive wherever you like on the road. If you find yourself amongst those elusive 'other cars' simply drive around them in any fashion if they are in your way.

8 - When turning right, never look to your left to see if there is another car coming. Simply pull out. Again, see rule 1.

9 - If you encounter the zebra-lined pedestrian crossing, be sure to ignore it. These lines are only to give the pedestrians a false sense of security that you won't hit them so they'll attempt to cross the road. We need them to cross the road. Otherwise, how do we tally up the points to win that karoke machine?

10 - As a general rule, never pay any attention to what's going on around you. Don't look or double check anything. Koreans must do all they can to keep up the reputation Asians have of being the worst drivers in the world.

Comments

kim joo mee said…
so funny you wrote that...one of my classes was talking about injuries, accidents and scars and 2 of my students told stories of how they were hit by cars and broke their legs!! It doesn't shock me that's for sure. See you tomorrow. Can't wait...
Elizabeth said…
good to know someone FINALLY wrote a manual!
Anonymous said…
hey a.

I'm pretty sure you've given rgv trouble in the past for this generalization. No doubt about it though, you see 'em coming and think " GET OUT THE WAY"!

ms
Anonymous said…
hey a.

I'm pretty sure you've given rgv trouble in the past for this generalization. No doubt about it though, you see 'em coming and think " GET OUT THE WAY"!

ms

Popular posts from this blog

They Started a Heat Wave

(sing) a tropical heat wave.... (White Christmas fans? anyone? c'mon..) Yes, there is a heat wave, with warm sun and highs of 30 but NOT HERE IN KOREA. Yes, it is warm and humid but there is no sun. Do you want to know where the sun has ended up? BELFAST!! Lucky bastards....I wanted a tan by August gosh darnit - I should have stayed with the Guinness. And, it wouldn't have been a day on this blog without some reference to the weather. The weekend was a nice long relaxing one but super panic hit on Monday night and I was ready to get out of the house. I was freaking out yet again about the garbage (what the hell is wrong with me?) and didn't have a great sleep. There is something to be said for cooping yourself up in your house to watch English speaking DVDs for a day. But I think this only stops you from experiencing the culture. I did venture out on Saturday by bus (whoa, crazy bus drivers) to Pusan where the open markets you can barter and get cheap shirts - thanks to my

Starring....

A Teacher and D Teacher! On local Gimhae TV. Having the cheesiest english conversation known to man! A: Is it hot enough for you? D: Yes, we need more rain A: More rain, are you crazy? It will flood the streets again! Can you believe it only took me 5 MINUTES to write that? Wow, I'm pretty talented. And pretty much a big geek. The local cable station does a show every week about the school and Big A used to appear on a regular basis with his 'Daily Expression'. I decided to take it to the next level. I created the 'Daily Conversation' and launched D and I into the stardom that we so deserve here in Gimhae, considering everyone stares at us anyway. No one in the camera crew spoke english and it was back to A-language again, with me nodding and smiling and pretending to understand. (this really works actually - why do people even learn the language anyway?) It brought me back to the high school days when I used to produce a show for the local cable station about our h