Something About My First Few Days Back

In coming back to Korea I've had to get the hang of a few things again. The first thing that gave me a double take was the whole women holding hands with women and men holding hands with men in a heterosexual manner. Next up was my car. In Canada I drove both my parents and grandmothers cars, which are both automatics. For the first few days in Canada I always pressed the brake (I mistook it for the clutch) to move to the next gear. Coming back to Korea had the reverse effect. On Friday I thought something was wrong with my car because I could not get it to go into reverse with out stalling. After about 3 minutes of frustration and the entire apartment complex watching me I realized I had my foot on the break instead of the clutch. I get enough stares as it is by just being white... I don't need any other reasons for people to look at me in awe. I've also had to re-learn driving in Korea. There are no stop signs and drivers never signal. That, combined with 35 degree heat and no air conditioning in my car provides for interesting drives into school. Because I flew home on Air Canada I was able to use my Aeroplan card. I was certain that a $2,000 CAD plane ticket would give me a worthwhile reward. I learned the only thing I can cash my points in for is a box of fudge. In non-related news, I was listening to The Edge while in Canada and learned that the first song to be encoded to the MP3 format was "Tom's Diner" by Suzanne Vega. Apparently the song provided enough acoustic, vocals and base to determine the quality of sound an MP3 could provide.