I went for another walk today, this time out behind Gwen's new apartment along the Geumgang River. I should have stayed in my nice airconditioned apartment. It was incredibly hot, humid and hazy out there. I took a bunch of pictures and then staggered home, drenched in sweat, overheated and suffering from quite a headache. I spent the remainder of my day naked and in front of the AC. My plans for tomorrow (my last day of summer vacation) include sitting in front of the AC all day long.
I found the new Geumgang Train Station. Not sure if it's open yet.
There were fields of farmland and giant waterlilies.
Only one was flowering. It's really big.
For some perspective, see how big the lily is next to the train station!
There I am!
There I am again!
The Geumgang River.
This was as far as I went, as this was where the headache struck.
On my walk to the river, down a tiny alleyway in the middle of nowhere was parked a Daegu city bus. The driver was conked out in one of the passenger seats, sound asleep with the AC running. On my way back, he was awake. I totally stared him down, contemplating asking to be let into his glorious air conditioned bus; he stared back but didn't make any move to open the door or wave me in, so I kept walking. About half an hour later, I looked back and saw the bus on the move. I wasn't anywhere near a bus stop (where I was wasn't on a bus route anyway), but I stuck my arm out and flagged him down. I was pretty surprised that he stopped, but thank goodness he did - my headache was pretty killer at that point. Luckily it was one of the buses that goes pretty close to my house, so I was able to take it nearly all the way home.
14 comments:
There actually is a bus stop out there. It has a lovely cracked vinyl sofa sitting under a small metal structure. Also, the station is functional. I can see trains going in and out from my living room. Luckily the tracks are far enough away to sound "romantic" instead of just noisy. I really do do love watching the trains pass by. Plus, the station is lit up a cool purplish color at night.
I did see that bus stop - that was where the bus was parked and the driver was napping! I wasn't sure if it was an active stop or not. Same with the train station - two trains passed through, but neither stopped at the station.
Yeah, the bus stop is active. I've seen several hunchbacked halmunis get on there.
I'm not sure if there is passenger service at the station yet. I think it's mainly a stop for freighters right now. Simon and John (not the drunk one) used to go there frequently to buy tickets to Seoul, so I know they have an active customer service desk.
That whole area is really cool. I can't believe I never see any of the kids who live around here playing out there. You and I would have had a field day (literally!)in a place like that when we were middle schoolers. Kids these days! Computer games are rotting their brains!
Oohhhh its sooo hot and humid down in the "Gue".
나는 에어컨을 사랑한다!!!!
The walk looked very nice though.
Gwen - Seriously, we would have had so much fun out there. Hell, we're still playing around out there, just in a more adult(ish) fashion. Kids these days. Although I'm staying inside today!
Rob - It would've been much nicer minus about 15 degrees!
Rob- 좋겠다! 난 에어컨 없어! ㅠㅠ
Gwen, I don't know how you can tolerate living 에어컨 없어! Without mine, I would've had to spend the day in the bathtub or something...
(And for you cats who don't read Korean, Rob loves his air conditioner, while Gwen doesn't own one.)
You would have to adapt Jane. Growing up in one of the poorest school districts in Texas, my class was one year ahead of the installation of air conditioning until the whole school got window units when I started the 11th grade. So, my younger siblings always had air conditioning in school and never had to battle the swarms of biting and disease carrying insects like I did. Well, in the early mornings and afternoons we all waited for the bus together and rode into town on that deathtrap that lacked heat, air conditioning, and seat belts while fighting off the mosquitoes and gnats.
However, throughout their "whole" lives my grandparents never had air conditioning, cell/mobile/hand/portable phones (they actually had party lines until the 1990's and rented their ugly rotary phones from Ma Bell--thousands of dollars in rent for a dial phone over the many years), computers or the internet, ATM cards, credit cards, and countless other modern technologies (my grandmothers never even had driver's licenses or drove a car) that we have become so dependent on today.
If some foreign power used "stroke" weapons (basically frying the computerized brains of every technological device [computers, phones, cars, banks, cash registers, etc.] by exploding nuclear warheads hundreds of miles above technologically dependent nations) that part of the world would be in total chaos without electricity, food, supplies, information, medicines, money, etc. People would turn on their friends and neighbors scavaging for crumbs like rats with guns, knives, clubs, and fists as seen in the recent TV show, “JERICHO.” This is why the U.S. and England have all those submarines circling beneath the water.
Like I've said before, people complain like crazy today and don't really count their blessings that they live in a time of electricity, air conditioning, indoor heating, big box stores with rather cheap and abundant food stuffs and clothing, television, computers and the internet, freedoms, etc. So many focus on just the bad things and not all the good.
However, if they need some perspective, they can check out this link that shows how their lives could have turned out if fate would have had them being born in North Korea instead of some prosperous and relatively free nation: http://www.tv-links.co.uk/listings/9/5088
Number 4 is really hard to stomach when most of us have it relatively so easy. It should be made mandatory viewing in Free World middle and junior high schools to stress the importance of being free and having the opportunity to achieve an open minded education.
I always say "I'll get one next year" but never do. Really, an AC is only needed for about one month out of the year. Since I'm not planning on being here long enough to wear one out, I'd rather just save my money! Using a fan and not wearing many clothes seems to do the trick.
I'm thinking when I head back to the U.S., I'll join the "The Small House Society." http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/smallhousesociety/index.htm
At least my heating and cooling bills will be reasonable. Here in South Korea I nearly fainted when I saw my January bills. I didn't know how the electric pricing scale worked--double your electric useage and pay quadruple or quintuple the price. No wonder why young couples aren't having children. It costs too much to raise them here with the high costs of living and education. My boss bought a brand new Korean car from the U.S. Had it shipped here and still saved over 5 million won over the domestic price.
http://www.resourcesforlife.com/groups/smallhousesociety/index.htm
Damn it, I cut off part of the web address.
Well, my house isn't *that* small (not that I would mind, although mine *was* cheap!), although it is MUCH smaller than a lot of the new houses that people seem to be going in for these days. At some point - when I'm actually in the US during both planting and harvesting seasons - I'd like to do a little bit of vegetable growing in my little yard. And of course, you know my goal is to live as cheaply as possible. In the winter, that's going to involve me sleeping in my 0F tolerant sleepingbag - although I'm fairly sure I'll be giving in and running my tiny AC if it's still hot and humid when I get home.
I personally believe that McMansions are a crime against humanity. I have two siblings who live in large houses (not quite a small McMansion) and are constantly complaining about the high cost of taxes, not utilizing their dining rooms enough, and what to do with all that wasted space.
Besides wasting natural resources in heating and cooling ginormous domiciles, family members retreat to their own corners and parents have no idea what is going on with their children. Smaller is actually better for both the environment and family unit.
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