We finally get a car. I was reluctant to get one, because I was reluctant to drive. But as this is the 18th anniversary of the day I broke my back in a car accident, I finally decided to get a car. Driving in Korea is different from in Canada. The laws are mostly the same. All but: Don't turn left at an intersection unless you have a left turn arrow. But the feel is different.

To change lanes, you don't wait for someone to see your ticker and offer you a space. You make a space, sticking your nose into it. There are lots of more examples, but they are all of the same ilk. So really this it the only difference.

On my first day driving, I, of course, take the wrong routes a lot. Sure I have navigation, but she talks to me in Korean, so I miss a lot of what she says. I don't miss, though, that she is getting very frustrated with me for missing all my turns. I tell her I don't need that lip, and turn her off.

At a light, I realise I have to turn, but am not in the turning lane. The turning lane beside me is empty, but someone is coming up from behind. I cut in front of him, pushing into the lane. This is how you do it here, sure, but I feel it was a bit too pushy. I then realise that the guy I cut off was a cop. And you know what? It doesn't bother me in the least.

This is another difference in driving in Korea. It extends beyond driving. Police are incredibly polite. In Canada, and even more so in America, many police try to be intimidating. It is not uncommon that in an interaction with the police you feel they are daring you to be impolite. You don't have to be doing something illegal to be afraid of them.

The police car follows me for several minutes, but then turns off. He wasn't following me, just going the same way. As soon as he turned off down another street, I speed through a red light, plowing through a group of people in a cross walk. Just dare me to do that, copper.