Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RACETRAITOR]

One of my phone English students lives in Jinju. He's 14 and his 18-year-old sister goes to a university in Pyungtaek. This is how his weekend goes:

Saturday morning, 7am: Depart Jinju for Pyungtaek.
Saturday morning, 11am: Pick up sister, return to Jinju.
Saturday afternoon, 3pm: Arrive in Jinju.
Sunday, 12:00pm: Depart Jinju for Pyungtaek.
Sunday, 4:00pm: Drop off sister, return to Jinju.
Sunday evening, 8pm: Arrive in Jinju.

Yes, this kid and his parents spend 16 hours in the car every weekend just so they can have a short visit with his sister. This raises several alarming questions:
-why can't she take the bus or train?
-why do all of them have to go along?
-why not save 16 hours and just stay in Pyungtaek for the weekend?

The only explanation that even begins to explain these questions was offered by my coworker: maybe the sister is handicapped. What do you think?

[caniff]

Hate to generalize, but I will anyway:

Koreans seem to be more content with spending an inordinate amount of time stuck in traffic/in their cars. Even during their free time.

When I first came to Korea, the boss took the teachers to Teongyeong (his hometown) on a Saturday. Coming home on Sunday involved 12 hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic.

He couldn't understand why the teachers weren't too thrilled about spending the weekend like that.

[ED209]

Maybe she's in a women's prison and his parents just tell him it's a University.