Analogy

My relationship with Korea is not unlike a really dysfunctional relationship - when it is good, it is really, really good, but there are so many little not good things that you wonder why you put up with it.

I will preface with the fact that in the end, this weekend was pretty amazing. I went to Yeosu again, this time for a boat trip with a bunch of other foreign teachers. I have poor planning when it comes to public transportation. Full stop. Also, I am not able to determine the difference between the "express" bus and the one that takes a freaking lifetime to get to the place I want to be, obviously. I was going to Yeosu with another teacher who lives in Gwangyang, and when we realized we were going to be late for the boat, we tried to call one of the folks who was organizing the trip. And the number? Wrong. So, as our taxi pulls into the marina, the boat was leaving the dock. Literally, just leaving the dock. (But I should note that while late, my plan for getting there was correct. Just a lot slower than I thought it would be.)

So, I call a friend, hoping to be at least be able to drop off my stuff while we make other plans for stuff to do in Yeosu for the day. A series of phone calls fly back and forth, and amazingly, they found someone with a speedboat to run us out to the big boat. Seriously. Amazing. I was just looking for a way to not have to drag a bunch of stuff around for the day, and I ended up being taken to the boat!! (will post picture of the driver when I have uploaded the photos)

Amazing day on the boat in the Sea of Japan and in Yeosu, with sun, amazing banana bread, good conversations, peanut m&m's, people who made me laugh a lot, the gym, and computer geekery.

Sunday was more gym (and another 5k treadmill run - this time with a better time and less "it's so hot i wanna throw up") chicken which was fairly spicy, but somehow set my lips on fire instead of my tongue, and an awesome little shop where there were two cannot-live-without purchases that will be documented once the batteries are charged. they must be seen to be believed.

I got to the bus right in time to catch the straight-to-Gwangyang bus (which isn't straight there, but I only had to buy one ticket, and it there was less backroad travel than on my way TO Yeosu) and took a cab to the big department store.

This is were things started to fall apart.

If someone were to say, use a credit card in the electronics department of a department store, what do you think would happen if that same card was used in the grocery section? If you use logic, you would THINK it would be fine.

You (and I) would be wrong.

After a lot of not being able to understand what happened, much standing around, and no one who was able to explain what happened, I walked out of Home Plus incredibly frustrated and with computer speakers and a battery charger, but none of the stuff I actually needed.
*ETA - and right now, my credit card company thinks they approved all the times they tried to scan my card. Awesome.
But what was the annoying part was that they had some of the things I missed and was really excited to find - Classico tomato-basil pasta sauce, salsa, tortilla chips, cinnamon, lotion that didn't cost a million dollars, pillows. Nothing life-changing, just a lot of small things I was excited to find. And I walked out the door frustrated and confused and disappointed.

Which was just a reminder that not only can I not navigate basic transactions half the time, I cannot understand WHY I can't do it. Like not being able to have a shower that is hot the whole time on an irregular-but-frequent basis, or being able to consistently figure out a bus schedule - no clue why what works the rest of the time didn't work then, but it just... doesn't.