The Kimchi car and Korean Driving Lessons

Driving in Korea is about the craziest thing we have ever done. The streets are narrow...about the equivalent of 1 1/2 lanes in the US with people parked on both sides. You don't have to stop at red lights...in fact 9 times out of 10 people don't! They just run right through them. It's truly like nothing you have ever seen. And you can forget courteous drivers...it is every man for himself out there. They also don't have stop signs....at all, anywhere! Therefore, we have a "kimchi car". It's a jalopy! We paid $1,500 for it. We could care less what happens to it. I have already run into a column and broke one of the side mirrors (look closely in the pic), our front gate slammed into it 3 times, I broke the door handle off and the battery has already died once. The beauty of it all...WE DON'T CARE! The motor purrs like a kitten (or a very sick one at any rate). The shocks are basically shot and for some reason there are about 10 speed bumps on the way to our house, so my goal is to try to see how much we can bounce when we go over the speed bumps....the kid's LOVE it! They tell me to drive crazy like a soldier (no idea where that came from). I have to take my drivers test pretty soon and I can't even begin to imagine what's going to be on it because like I said...they don't even have stop signs! Bottom line...when we get back to the US drivers beware when the Smiley's are out on the road...I'm thinking these habits will be hard to break...especially running red lights..you really feel like you're getting away with something, you know??

The kimchi car...see the mirror!

Our other car! You're only allowed to have one car here, so the hubby's all ride there bikes to work...and yes, the reflective belt, helmet and flashing light is all Air Force required!