Parking adventures

So a while back, I was really pleasantly surprised to learn that one of my students lives in the same building as I do. She's a super sweet lady and when she has classes at night, she very kindly gives me a lift back home after. :3 Luckily for us, the drive home is pretty short... But finding parking is a whole different story and, as irony would have it, usually ends up taking longer than the actual drive itself.

As you might imagine, given that Seoul is so crowded, parking can often be really horrendous. The spaces are super tiny and there's barely enough room to open your door and wiggle yourself out without scraping the paint off the car beside you. On top of that, it's hard to even find a parking spot in the first place. Of course, our building is no exception and we usually find ourselves circling the parking lot like vultures in order to hunt down a space somewhere. And since there aren't enough spaces, a lot of people even resort to parking in the lanes... Which of course means blocking other cars in:

Poor red Mini. :(

When I first saw this, I was pretty appalled. From past experience, I've learned that the culture in Korea is to have your cell phone number displayed somewhere near your windscreen so that people can call you if they need you to move your vehicle. But still.. Imagine waking up in the morning, rushing down to drive to work, only to realise that you've been parked in and that person isn't answering their phone? How furious would you be?! XD

Anyway.. One particular night, we were super lucky to find a spot quickly, though it required one of the cars in the lane to be moved so there would be enough space for my student to do a three-point turn. She simply told me, "Wait a moment please!" and hopped out of the car. I assumed she was going to call the owner of the car, but several minutes passed and I began to wonder why she hadn't come back. That was when I realised she had actually been pushing all the cars in the lane backwards...

You see, it turns out if you park in the lanes then you should leave your handbrake down and the gears in neutral. That way, anyone can roll your car backwards or forwards as needed in order to get out... Genius, right?! o__O (Of course, this kind of thing probably only works because it's in Korea. In Aus, if anyone left their handbrake down while in neutral, I'm pretty sure some smart-assed punk would come along and roll the car right out of the parking lot. -__-)

Here's my lovely student hard at work, pushing those cars. XD

Personally I found this concept was pretty cool, and I certainly had fun jumping out and rolling some of the cars back myself. Makes you feel like a superhero, having the ability to move cars with your bare hands.... Hahaha.

You learn something new everyday, eh? :D