Friday, March 29, 2013

Relearning America 004: Cars and Driving

I'd been simultaneously looking forward to and dreading getting a car.  In South Korea, where we lived within a mile of almost everything we needed and had public transportation for the rest, cars were an unnecessary and (mostly) undesired luxury.
But we're in America now, the place that has more land than we know what to do with, cars are a necessity in most places here.  We quickly bit the bullet with a good deal on a minivan.  We've also been blesses with a few people generously loaning us their cars.  I thought we were done with the process when we finally paid for the car and drove away, but I forgot about insurance, registration, and all of the other paperwork.  On the docket for next week is buying one more car (for me), and getting both cars registered and plated.


Definite culture shock at the gas pump.  Even though gas is about half the price of what it costs in Korea, it's still loads more than a bus or subway ticket.  Coughing out 50 or 60 bucks at a time just for transportation still hurts.  And I haven't eve
n had to pay for any repairs yet!
Yes, I love/hate to drive.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

yeah i'm dreading that when we go back. we just bought a kia carens here and it def helps. lpg fuel is about a dollar per liter. bill says the u.s.a. has lpg stations now so they're viable. dave k from hoseo bought a new tucson and he's prolly going to ship it back home when they leave korea.
hope all is good,
b