We drove around a bit (or should I say "rallied") and I snapped pictures of things that I thought were amusing.
VS
Hmmmmmm??
Are you in need of a tire? Not only is it a tire store...it's a store made out of tires....how handy is that?
You can tell by some of these pictures that the air is hazy. That is because this is an extremely polluted country. When the Koreans are not polluting their own country they have China to thank for exporting their "yellow dust". The stuff is everywhere and I keep thinking that this year of service is taking about a decade off of our lives. So we might as well have fun while we can.
Here is one of many reasons why the air quality is so poor here; I took this picture out of our temp apt window.
There is a lot of burning going on everywhere you look and they are burning everything from plastic to carpets to whatever they want to dispose of. My eyes have been burning/itching since I got off the plane. Last night it rained and I woke up to "almost" fresh air today, it was a blessed relief.
I also wake up to a headache every day...in fact I got a headache about an hour after we de-planed and it pretty much has stayed constant these last 10 days. And my headache isn't due to mischief from the night before, that would at least be a good reason; it's either the pollution here or the humid climate.... Yet to be determined. I suffered from severe migraines when we lived in the Southern States so at first I thought it might be humidity related allergies.
Anyhow I don't mean to sound harsh and critical. South Korea has a booming economy and they are growing and changing by leaps and bounds. It is a time of great prosperity for the S.Korean people. The United States went through the same growing pains.
Finally I wanted to share another picture from Buddha's Birthday. This is also taken from our temp apt window.
I so wanted to walk over and join the festivities and learn what they were doing, but not knowing the customs or the language I did not want to offend.
4 comments:
Another lovely, informative post. Congratulations on finding your dream apartment! Can't wait to see it. Hope your head gets better soon. I'm sure the air there is difficult for you. You need to find a friend who speaks both languages so you can learn and enjoy without offending anyone. You are too special for these people to miss out on you!
This is so interesting learning about Korea through someone else's eyes. Thank you for sharing all this stuff. I'm glad you found a great place.
There are many shops like that - nearby our house (well actually a drive away thankfully) there is a 'junk' shop made of cut-up cars, esp bonnets.
The air pollution is not only from the source. WE are suffering for the burning from Indonesia. Its real bad!!
Thank you for allowing me to read your blog with all your adventures so well-described! Humidity gives me severe migraines too, so I sympathise with you and hope that they won't be a feature of your stay there.
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