Festivals and Bus Rage

Hey everyone,

Here's a quick update from the Land of the Morning Calm:

The Yongbong Music Festival started on Sunday, so I was looking forward to sitting at an overturned crate eating Korean kimchi pancakes and having a good time with friends by candlelight, but oddly it has been raining for the past few days. Maybe this evening will be drier and they'll let us have fireworks this time too!

The price for the village buses around Gwangju has increased, as of October 1, by about $0.50. However, if you don't understand Korean, you would've missed the memo, as did the European teacher I often see on the bus in the morning. Naturally, she thought, as did I at first, that the bus driver (he's the kind of rude one I see on Tuesday) was charging her for a trip all the way to the bamboo forest! She vigorously argued with him and demanded her money back (in English - "NO! Give me my money now!"). Meanwhile this bus driver is explaining to her, in Korean, the situation. I felt very embarrassed as she started raging at him in front of a bus full of people. She even accused him of charging her more simply because she's a waygookin (any non-Korean).

Yikes.