1st at the scene.....

Recently I had the displeasure of witnessing a car accident happen before my very eyes. It was a cold and rainy day in Manchon Dong, coming home from Homeplus (think Pick and Pay) for grocery shopping and a few Christmas cards. I decided against braving the elements and hailed a cab home instead. Now if you have ever hopped on a bus or cab in Korea, you would know very well that you always need to have "all your affairs in order" before riding on one because, really, anything can happen. I would go as far as to rank it right up there with my fellow Mzansi minibus taxi drivers :( I digress.

Coming around a sharp bend, my driver noticeably reduced the speed, showing off his knowledge of the road. Alas the other cab ahead of us did not. Some swerves, screeches and CRASH!!! into the wall.
We pulled over immediately to try to assist.  Fortunately no one was too badly injured. The police and ambulance were probably there within 10 minutes but waiting with the victims, that felt like an hour.

I have never felt so helpless and guilty at the same time. I felt helpless because I couldn't speak enough Korean to be of any help in this situation. Words and phrases like "hello", thank you", "no onions" or "I am an English teacher" are not very useful in these situations. I watched my cab driver frantically try to call the police and ambulance whilst trying to assist the passenger and driver to see how badly injured they were. All I could say to the young hysterical female passenger , "its ok" in Korean, but I felt like that wasn't enough. I watched her trying to call her loved ones to tell them what had happened and where she was, all the while wailing.

I think that's where the guilt comes in. Having been here for 10 months, surely I should have more words in my vocabulary than I currently do. I've caught myself so often playing charades to navigate through my daily life in the east instead of just adding a few more words to my vocab.  I hope my attitude will change and I will put more effort in doing this in my next year here.

It also made me wonder - what would have happened if it were me? If I was badly hurt? Who would they have notified for me? How would they communicate to me?  Sobering thought, isn't it?