We usually do the majority of the grocery shopping on Sunday since we only have one car. We would occasionally eat at the TGI Friday's which was located near our Home Plus (Super Target) and then grocery shop. Curt (hubby) remembered that there was one near another Home Plus so off we went to eat and then grocery shop.
We were on the wrong side of Home Plus so Curt made a u-turn along with a lot of other cars only to be flagged down by the Korean police along with the other cars. They were set up right in front of the Home Plus and we never saw them. I thought they were doing DUI checks but then it was 11:00 a.m. on a Sunday morning. As the officer approached, Curt said to me "I did an illegal u-turn." I was shocked! Illegal u-turn. This is the country of u-turns and I didn't know that you were only supposed to u-turn when you saw a sign. This is also the country where a red light doesn't necessarily mean stop.
The officer was also surprised to see us. Curt made sure to speak ONLY in English. The officer told him that he did an illegal u-turn, the legal area was 50 meters beyond where Curt had turned. I was scared! The officer asked Curt for his license (he has a Korean license) and looked at it for what I thought felt like forever.
He gave Curt his license back and told him to obey Korean traffic laws. We were allowed to leave without getting a ticket. I don't think the other Korean drivers were quite as lucky. I told Curt that he better not make any more illegal u-turns. I asked him if he was worried he was going to get a ticket and he said that he knew he wouldn't because they wouldn't have been able to explain it to us and it would be too much trouble for them. So I will add this to my list of good reasons to be a foreigner in Korea. But I also want to make it clear that I don't want to test this theory again.
As we were parking, we noticed the parking was different than the Home Plus near our house. It is really ingenious. They put red and green lights above each parking space. When the space is empty, the light is green and when the space is full, the light is red. They also have a larger green or red light that is lit to let you know if there are any open spaces in the entire aisle.
3 comments:
I love that light idea. I can't tell you how many times I circle and circle looking for a spot!
It was the first time we saw this and I thought it was ingenious
:). I read this post after your more recent one about furniture so when you said "where a red light doesn't necessarily mean stop", I laughed. It's true - a red light often means something else!
Nice 'yak jang", btw. I'm also a fan of Korean furniture.
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