Accidents in Korea

Last Thursday (9/22) began like any other.  I went to work.  I came home.  I hopped on my motorcycle and  headed off to see the boyfriend for some dinner and to finish a puzzle we've been working on.  Went to my friend Emily's to get weighed and measured for Pohang's version of "The Biggest Loser."  Pretty standard.  Pretty ordinary.

That is until my ride home when I was thrown 20 feet from my bike in an accident caused by a crazy Korean driver.  It came out of nowhere.  I wasn't driving erratically.  I wasn't drinking.  I was driving through a green light that was turning yellow as I came to the intersection and then "BAM!"  Literally all I can remember is slamming on my breaks, hearing the sound of smashing metal and plastic and being hurled across the intersection.    Cars around me were honking and angrily swerving around me as if me laying facedown and bloodied on the cold concrete was in someway a hindrance to them.  People were stopping their power walking to take a look at the waygook (foreigner) on the ground.  The sound of crunching bike parts and headlights was pounding in my ears.

I was eventually able to do a quick evaluation and apart from a bloody nose, gashed cheek, one hell of a sore leg and scraped up hands and feet I was able to determine I wasn't broken and nothing seemed to be seriously wrong.  I shakily picked up my phone and hysterically called Dan and asked him to come find me.  I couldn't handle dealing with the surrounding Koreans, police officers and paramedics that I knew would be along in a matter of minutes.  He eventually found the lights and the mob of Koreans and accompanied me to the hospital where (a few hours and a million x-rays later)  I was declared extremely lucky and thankfully (though painfully) only battered and extremely bruised.

Upon getting home I realized more than one thing.  I was unbelievably lucky.  So many unforeseen circumstances helped me survive this accident.  A few weeks ago the strap on my summer helmet broke so I was using Emily's full face winter helmet.  It is because of that helmet that I only ended up with a bloody nose and gashed cheek.  Because of the unusually cold weather I was wearing a sweater (that Emily also lent to me that night) and that is the reason I escaped with only a few cuts on my hands and feet.  The bruises on my legs (though painful they were/are) would have been exponentially worse had I been wearing the usual dress or skirt usually worn during those mild September nights.

I immediately called my family, cried myself to sleep and spent the next few days recovering in the capable hands of Dan, the best boyfriend a girl could ask for.  Even though my bike is totaled (there goes $1,000),  my bruises have bruises (I seriously think they've multiplied) and I may have to pay for the damage done to the other car (stupid Korea), I know I was one of the lucky ones.

It could have been so much worse.