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Today was Sunday for us and we didn't go to church because our ride was sick. It gave us an excuse to continue to get our apartment in order. I don't think anybody has cleaned it in years, seriously. There was mold on the walls and the floors were terrible. We had to throw away our socks yesterday from just walking around on the floors while we were cleaning the walls. We even did the ceilings. Before everything shared this mildewy kind of smell. Now, it is all Clorox. It smells like a swimming pool but at least I know it is sterile. We teach our first class tomorrow. Not a big deal really. I am not too worried. Stephen, the academic coordinator said it would probably be the easiest job we've ever had. We should have some extra time on our hands so I'm glad I brought my sax and the Brothers Karamozov by Dostoyevski. We are becoming braver. Yesterday Celeste and I went into the downtown area to get some things for our apartment. We were left alone for about an hour to fend for ourselves, armed with only two or three Korean words. We wound down small Asian streets with hog�s heads hanging out the window, and big barrels of cow entrails stewing in the middle of the street. Mountains of fish, all kinds, collecting flies all over the place. Classic. Everything that you could expect an outdoor Asian market to be. We brought around a calculator with us and asked them to type in the price of stuff. Everybody understands the roman numerals on a calculator. We bought three straw curtains for about $1.50 a piece, then a woven straw rug for about $8.00. We then bought about five or six plants to cheer the place up. Now that we�ve cleaned it and made things look kind of funky, we feel the place is livable. We are still looking for some lamps, though. They only have fluorescent lighting in there and it sucks the life right out of you. The lamp we were looking at yesterday was priced at about $150.00 so I think we�ll keep looking. The Currency is the Won about 1250 wan per dollar. So we went on a 20-minute taxi ride today for about 7000 won, or $4.50. Not bad. We have only been here for three days and are getting to know a lot of new phrases. So far the people are a little stand-off-ish, but that is to be expected. Leather is really cheap. We bought Celeste a leather coat today (used) for about $14.00. It is really nice. Also you can get a nice tailored suit for about $100.00. We went grocery shopping yesterday and got a lot of the stuff we are used to. It takes a little searching to find the kinds of things we are used to eating. Every thing is labeled in Korean so it is impossible to read the label to figure out what things are. They have some American type foods but mostly it is stuff that we wouldn�t eat even if we weren�t in Korea�it might as well be Korean, it�s just as foreign. Today, Instead of the taxi, we decided to really experience the city and take the bus. We paid 600 won, $0.45, each to board the ride or our life. Being on the bus was so crazy, that it made Celeste and me laugh out loud. At first, we were lucky enough to be standing up holding on to a rail, as all of the seats were taken. I felt like I was riding a 45-foot surfboard through a hurricane. It is obvious that the bus drivers here follow one code, one mantra: RENEGADE! The bus driver didn�t break a sweat as he sent us ripping down the residential roads at 60 miles an hour, narrowly avoiding parked cars, pedestrians, buildings, and anything else senseless enough to be in the kamikaze�s path. Maybe these guys are the Korean equivalent to American over zealous Vietnam vets reliving their �glory� years as the rest of us just try to stay out of their way. John Goodman from The Big Lobowski comes to mind for any who have seen that film. As our driver shot his 45 foot, self manned, silver bullet through busy streets of Taejun, he certainly didn�t sneak up on anybody because as one hand was busy working the stick shift, loudly grinding every gear (seriously. every one, every time), his other hand was wildly honking the horn. He was honking at, pedestrians, he was honking at other cars in his lane, and he was honking at other cars that weren�t in his lane, he honking at other bus drivers whom he saw resting on the side of the road. He even honked at nobody as we took a solo flight across a bride. Again, a RENEGADE. We took the fastest tour of the city. The very densely populated city about the size of Salt Lake took all of about 25 minutes to see. I wouldn�t doubt if we didn�t cover the majority of the city, including the lesser-known parts. It dropped us off about a block from our house and we descended the bus grateful to be alive. RENEGADE!! [2002-10-20]
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