TAXI!

Dear Mom and Dad,

I missed the bus this morning.  So I had to take a taxi this morning.  Taxis are…fun.  And …interesting.  And then there are the drivers!

You know, when I think about it, I don’t think I ever rode in a taxi at home in the states.  I did in Scotland and London.  Well, at least, when I had enough spare change to share a cab with someone else…

   But, yes, taxis are interesting and my ride this morning was fairly mild compared to some rides I’ve had.  And some drivers.  Ooh, I’m getting ahead of myself!  My driver this morning had a mild case of jackrabbit-itus.  I’m not sure why.  But instead of steadily engaging the accelerator, there was this vrrm-erch, vrrm-erch for the entire 10 minute ride.  It wasn’t an extreme vrrm-erch.  There was no whiplash involved.  This time.

My street.  I guess I could ask for the police station too!

I actually don’t mind taking taxis here, now that I’ve figured out the system.  I think the most important breakthrough I had in my taxi-taking experience was learning the word for post office – 우체곡.  Why?  Because my apartment is right across the alley from the only post office in my neighborhood.  So all I have to say to the taxi driver is 신동오체국요.  Which basically, means ** post office, please."

  I’ve learned a few other key landmarks to tell the taxi driver.  Of course, my schools, but also a few major shopping department stores.  Luckily I live in a town in which there are only one of every major department store, or I would be slightly out of luck…

Oh, yes, that’s another thing.  Road signs exist.  But apparently they don’t mean much.  I’ve tried giving my street address, and it doesn’t exist even in the GPS…  Landmarks are the way to get around, so ** post office works on every taxi driver.  They all know the post offices.  ** Middle school, or ** elementary school, are great to navigate by as well. 

taxi stand outside Lotte Mart

My neighborhood-university district

 I have to be careful though, with English names that have been Koreanized or as it’s said here, my Konglish. (No, I’m not joking)  That is a blend of Korean and English in the Korean language to come up with words that are English in origin, but said with Korean pronunciation. 마트 is ma-teu or mart, 버스 is beo-seu, or bus. 터미날 is teo-mi-nal.  I leave that one up to you!  There is a store here called Lotte Mart (as is “low-tay mart”) but if I say “mart” the taxi driver doesn’t understand and gets frustrated and may even say he doesn’t know and he might not actually take you, or even ask you to find a different driver.  That’s if he’s having a bad day.  So you must say it properly in Konglish.  “Low-tay ma-teu yo.” (Yo is the polite ending, definitely add this to the ends of most basic sentences, especially when speaking to elders or strangers.)

To navigate, the cities are divided up into neighborhoods.  So if there is more than one of a certain type of landmark, post offices for example, you must say the neighborhood first, then the landmark, and then –yo.  Unless your word already ends in –yo, then you add a Ka chuseyo.  Which means, “Please, take me to…” or “Please, go to …”

  Well back to taxi drivers.  Usually taxi drivers are men, mostly older men, which for some strange reason, never match their ID photos…photoshop maybe? Most photos are at least 20 years younger, with a rather fuller head of hair, and…wait the photo has glasses??  The best was a photo of a younger man in his forties, but my driver must have had a serious identity crisis, because she didn’t look anything like the photo…

I feel like Cinderella

Some times the cabs are more fascinating than the driver, or even the scenery.  Who knew that pink and purple and disco balls went together outside of Disney??  And all of the evening dramas, documentaries, and news programs on the GPS?  Yep, it all contributes to the taxi driver ajussi being the second most dangerous vehicle on the road, closely following the scooter ajussi (ajussi means something like Mr. and pronounced ah-jew-she).  Most taxis that I’ve been in have a hidden present left behind from me.  Fingernail indents!

My experience with the taxi driver ajussi has been a very quiet drive (except for the music or TV playing in the front dash).  But once in a while, there is a talkative one, whose curiosity about the foreigner in the backseat overcomes his reluctance to start a conversation.  It’s like playing Russian roulette.  

In Gwangju

Ah, Russian.  That is a question that taxi driver ajussis (and regular ajussis, sometimes too) like to ask.  "Are you Russian?"  This is a question best answered with a resounding “No!”  I am sorry for the poor Russian foreigners here.  Unfortunately, Russian women do not have a good reputation here.

I had one driver ask this, and when I said “아니요! 미국사람입니다.”  Which means, “No! I am an American.”  He became very animated in his conversation that consisted of a stream of Korean of which I understood only a small handful of words in no particular order or context, and body language which included the miming of a gun and a hand clasp.  What I concluded from the very long conversation was that he was saying something along the lines of “Good, Russia and Korea fight (brr-brr-brr) America and Korea friends!” (clasp).  Meanwhile we were speeding through three lanes of stop and go traffic, and he was spending more time looking at me than at the road. 

Enjoying our ride

 An additional road hazard is the right lane that doubles as the parking lane, bus lane, and intermediate lane between the road and sidewalk.  That’s another story.