Forlorn little me

I had lots of wonderful things planned for this weekend. None of them involving leaving my apartment, as I can't really do that very easily. But I had online activities planned - e-mails to catch up on, things to research, lesson plans to devise, blogs to update.... But for some reason my internet has decided to choose this weekend to go on strike. Great.

I'm currently sitting in a PC bang - literally, computer room - and these places are mad! Koreans use them mainly to play games, they come and play for hours and hours against people in the same room, or anywhere in the world. It's hot, and noisy, and a little bit crazy, to be honest. Cheap though. I've been here for two hours, and I think the price has just reached a quid.

It's frustrating not being able to do things. I wanted to meet people, explore some more, head into Daegu and find out what was happening there that I could get involved in. But I'm trying to look at this positively, convincing myself that I'm learning Korean from watching TV. Ah well. Doctor says in 10 day I can ditch the crutches. So when that day comes, Korea better watch out!.....Er....yeah, sure....

One thing I wanted to rush home and write about yesterday (before I discovered t'internet was down) was the kindness of Koreans. I always hear people talking about this, and it's true, if you ask for directions they will physically take you, at least part of the way (this happened to me in Japan too, it's such a friendly habit). But yesterday I had my first experience of pure, uninvited helpfulness.

After leaving the hospital, I was trying to hail a taxi to get home. It isn't too hard in Korea, there are hundreds of taxis. But I had been trying for a few minutes with no luck. So, picture the scene, if you will: a lonely foreigner, with one foot in a splint, on crutches, standing by the side of the road as car after car drives by, and it's raining (just a light shower, but enough). I must have been looking quite forlorn. Next thing I know, a middle-aged Korean lady appeared beside me, put an umbrella over my head, and helped me get a taxi. We tried hailing a couple, and then she phoned one for me, and waited with me until it came. This lady got nothing out of this act, except my bad Korean thank yous. I was quite taken aback, and so grateful. I can't imagine many other countries where people would help a stranger like that.

I then proceeded to have a great conversation with the taxi driver, which was getting very close to explaining why Northern Ireland is separate from the rest of Ireland, and which country hated who. He spoke no English, I spoke no Korean, and yet we managed to have a conversation like that. It was great. The whole taxi experience yesterday made me smile.

Anyway, since then I've been in my flat, so there really isn't much else to write about. I'll have to find my landlord later, and somehow explain that the internet isn't working. That could be fun. Although he has gone out of his way to help me as well, so he should be nice about it at least. Ta ta.