Repatriate Me!

Back in May I posted pictures of my trip to Andong. I’ve finally got the video edited. There are some shots of my family but for the most part you will be able to see the Culture and Tradition center of Korea. Hope you enjoy the video, even with my really off key singing at the beginning.

Vacation video of Andong

One of the things I am not going to miss when I leave Korea is the driving. When I bought my HD camcorder last year I made a plan to make a video of the psycho nut cases behind the wheel here. However a little search on YouTube found several results including a series of seven videos by one guy that really showcase how bloody stupid drivers are in this country. Every single thing you see in these videos happens regularly. I swear that i cannot drive more than 5 minutes without seeing serious traffic violations of safety problems. For example when I drive my kids to school, a 5 minute drive, I can pretty much guarantee to see 2-3 people run a red light and 1-2 people driving in the oncoming lane so they get get around the line up at the red light and turn right.

I get so angry driving in this country and end up swearing too much when driving. My wife is always getting angry at me for swearing at drivers. I’ve now managed to keep the swearing to a minimum, but my 4 year old starts yelling out “Loser” whenever he hears a horn honking. He also makes an “L” with his thumb and index finger over his forehead (welcome to the 80s courtesy of Dad).

Enjoy.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Last October I wrote about 5 things I will miss in Korea The first one on the list was service. I had a reminder yesterday about how great Korean service is. Last week, our cable company rearranged the channels we get and in the process we lost the only channel that my kids watch – Champ. Champ is all cartoons and kid oriented tv.

We called the cable company to ask about this and were recommended to get a cable box which get us 120+ channels including Champ and a small selection of English news channels – on basic cable the only English channel is Discovery which is fine with me, but I do like being able to watch BBC. Now clearly rearranging channels was done to encourage customers to upgrade to the cable box. How much extra is it? Less than $10 a month extra to get 120 channels vs the 40 or so that we had.

We called at noon and said yes. The cable company told us they would be there at 4pm the same day and it would take about 30 minutes to set up. The cable guy arrived at 3:55 and it took 35 minutes. There was no installation fee and everything was done quickly and friendly. Compare this to the service my sister got in Canada trying to get cable internet from Shaw. She arranged to have it installed on Christmas eve (to coincide with a computer present) well in advance. The cable guy didn’t show up and when she called to ask/complain about it was told that they were too busy and she would have to wait another 2-3 weeks. Go Canada!

Korean service is outstanding.