Stylin' & Profilin'

Since we moved to Osan, we have only had one car to share. I am thankful we had that one car, and while we were on base or just outside the gate it wasn't a huge inconvenience. Well, since we moved into our apartment a few weeks ago, I won't lie, it's been a pain in the rump! Either I have had to take Bill after the kids wake up and stay on base or run back and forth to pick him up, or the poor guy has had to take a taxi (which doesn't start running until 6), or I have had to stay at home cooped up with the kids in the apartment and very few toys. No fun! Anyway, those days are over!

We went car shopping up in Seoul on Saturday and found a rockin' 2000 Kia Carnival. Yup, I left my fancy MV (that I swore I would NEVER EVER drive, but loved having every time I drove it) at home sitting on a storage lot and moved down more notches than I care to admit. Our original plan was to buy a kimchi (that's what they call a Korean beater around here) for Bill and I would drive our much safer and more reliable 2000 Accord. After trying to get around and take a couple trips with friends, I discovered that if I wanted to go somewhere with a friend and that friend had at least one kid, we would have to caravan and in South Korea traffic that is much easier said than done. I have even more traffic stories than I wrote about after last summer's visit. I'll share them one day when I have a little time and get some pictures to illustrate them.

So, we decided we needed to get an SUV or a van. After doing a little research I found that Korean minivans have nine seats, making them bus lane legal! If you have ever driven (or been completely stopped as the case tends to be) on the interstate here with all the buses and vans zooming past, you know what a bonus this could be. We knew we wanted to try to get a van and we also knew that we didn't want to spend a lot of money for a vehicle we would be selling in two years. So, I lowered my standards and we went shopping. After a bus ride to Seoul and a 45 minute taxi ride through downtown traffic, we met up with a guy named Steve who showed us some vehicles in our price range. We settled on (and are really excited about) an old taupe Kia Carnival with 120,000 (or so) miles on it. She has cloth interior that smells like, well it just smells, but not nearly as bad as one of the cars we looked at smelled. It literally smelled like mildew-y stank feet. Be glad you weren't shopping with us! She is accident free (hard to find here) and has nine seats WITH seat belts and a diesel engine that purrs like and angry lion. One of the middle seats faces backwards too, which the kids will love, or the rear facing infant. She has stained and mismatched floors and mats and a cassette deck. Bonus, she also came with an ashtray full of used cigarettes. Hopefully that will be cleaned up before delivery, but it's funny that even if it isn't I don't really care. Life in Korea is just different. It doesn't matter what you drive or what you wear (well, maybe what you wear when going out) like it does in the states. Cute, impractical shoes are a thing of past as everyone walks everywhere here (the base is a walking base and it is very well laid out), but a good stroller is a must. People don't bat an eye at spending several hundred dollars, or more, on a stroller here where they wouldn't even be able to justify it at home. It's like it's their car and they log the miles to show for it. But I digress. If someone had the audacity to show me this car in the states I would have probably laughed out loud and looked for the hidden camera, sure as sugar that my husband were playing a trick on me, especially with the metal batman decal on the back. Not Saturday, no sir. We hopped in the van, let the kids play around as Bill started the engine and the taupe bat mobile roared to life, and hoped the guy would give us a good deal on it. While it was more than we were planning to spend on the kimchi, it was still within our meager budget. If time is money, just think of all we'll be saving in the bus lane.

Parked in the parking garage of our complex.

Notice how tiny the parking spots are here. Glad those doors slide and I can climb through if needed.

A certified Bat Mobile

The kids were pumped to find the Mickey Mouse window shades actually came with the car! We'll see how long they stay there. ;)

The middle row...check out the mats.

You know the plastic wood grain rocks.

Look closely and you can see the tape deck. And we just threw all those old mixed tapes away!

As a side note...the car was just delivered (I wrote this yesterday) and I am happy to say that they did a pretty good job cleaning it up and there were no cigarette butts or ashes in the tray and I didn't even notice the smell. I am sure that will change once the AC kicks on (Lord I hope that it works, as it is the dead of winter so we didn't even think to check!), but for now I've got wheels!