Sep 1, 2012

K-Fail of the Day: The Subway Debacle

This is the second installment in a new series called "K-Fails", in which Meg does something dumb because she can't speak Korean.

I'm getting pretty good at riding the subway, but there is still one line that confounds me. The #2 line of Seoul is a gigantic circle with little offshoots.

Side note, if I'd read the above-hyperlinked wikipedia page, this entire K-fail might have been avoided.

I had to meet a friend at the Konkuk University stop today, which involved a transfer from my home line to the 2, on one of the little offshoots. I then had to ride a few stops and transfer from the Outer Circle to the Inner Circle. However, at the time, I had no idea there was an "outer circle" and an "inner circle," nor did I have any clue which direction they ran. I ended up going the wrong direction for a stop, doubling back, getting off at the wrong stop, getting back on, and finally arriving at my destination almost fifteen minutes late. If I'd been able to read Korean, I likely would have seen signs saying "transfer here for inner circle line going clockwise."

Time wasted: about 20 minutes.

K-fail.

To clarify: I can read the Korean alphabet, Hangul.  But reading it doesn't mean I know what it means. It would be like reading Spanish if you don't speak Spanish. You can sound out the words, but that doesn't mean you understand.

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