Charles writes regarding Biker Delivery Dudes:
K,
BDDs are definitely one of the scourges of the streets here. What's interesting, though, is most people's attitude toward traffic laws. Someone driving in a car almost gets broadsided by a bus running a light*, yet every person on that bus who happens to be late for an appointment is secretly cheering the driver for getting them that much closer to their destination. It's all about perspective. Same thing with the BDDs. When the guy is bringing you food, he's awesome. As soon as the food is in your hands and he gets back on his bike, though, he sucks moose balls.
I remember a rather amusing incident some years back. My wife, myself, and some cousins were standing outside an apartment building getting ready to go somewhere, and a BDD pulled in to make a delivery. On his way out he decided to be a hot shot and tried to whip his bike around a corner by gunning his engine and leaning way into the curve. Of course his bike is not a racing bike and is thus not built for that sort of thing, so the wheels slipped out from under him and his bike fell flat on its side. He wasn't hurt, but boy I bet he felt like an idiot. It probably didn't help that we stood there laughing and pointing at him--you know the only reason he tried that trick was because he had an audience, and we didn't want him to think we weren't paying attention. The BDD just stared at the ground, picked up his bike, and puttered away. Good times, good times.
* This might not happen as much in Seoul because it's hard to get away with without causing an accident, but down here pretty much everyone ignores traffic lights whenever possible. I'm one of the minority that actually waits at red lights.
Oh, and congrats on finishing up yet another group of classes. I have great respect for you for all the effort you put into teaching your students and trying to make their experience more interesting. I'm sure you'll get great ratings from the girls that count.
-C
Many thanks. We ended up with three girls-- one former Japanese-Korean student (she's a Japanese citizen but ethnically Korean) came to the party, so she got the leftover copy of the magazine. We ended up skipping the jjim-tak restaurant, which was way too crowded (today was graduation day for part of the campus, so the local restos were all filled), and at the other teacher's suggestion, we headed into dreaded Itaewon to eat lunch at Santorini, a Greek resto behind the Hamilton Hotel. The food turned out to be good, though the prices were way too high. Luckily, this is the group that earned W54,000, so we were able to defray a goodly chunk of the W85,000 cost. The other teacher and I chipped in enough money to cover the rest.
Yeah... a gyro-and-fries plate should never cost you W12,000 and be brazenly labeled a "lunch special." For those who don't know: there's a Turkish dude who owns a hole-in-the-wall doner kebab resto where the sandwiches are W3000 apiece. The kebabs are a bit on the small side, so I usually* order three of them, but they're good, and are definitely a much better value than Santorini's sandwiches. Want directions? Ask me.
*As most of you know, I normally avoid Itaewon. When I'm there with my buddy Tom, it's Tom who knows the good spots, and he's the one who introduced me to the Turkish place. Those're good sandwiches, and as Tom notes, they're probably healthier for you than hot dogs. I'm impatient to know how the guy spices the chicken. And I need to go buy a bottle of his red sauce, which rocks.
_
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