Wrecked 'Em, Dang Near Killed 'Em...

If anyone knows the joke that goes along with the punchline I mention in the title of this blog post, please let me know. Even though it's probably one of the most infamous punchlines ever, I've still never heard the actual joke.  Anyway, the punchline reminds me of our last morning in Korea, where we were minding our own beeswax and making good time to the airport to sadly leave this great country.  When all of a sudden, we come to a screeching halt because of this:

If you look to the left of the picture, you'll see the wrecked tractor trailer jack-knifed on the highway.  This thing blocked traffic for hours.  The side walls of the highway were banged up and wreckage was strewn all over the place.  I felt like we were on the inside of a giant tumbled over Jenga game.  One of the policemen told us the driver of the truck was drunk.  The drunk driver hit some foreigners in another car.  One of the accident victims was still stuck and the other was in critical condition when I took this picture.

It took awhile just to get the emergency vehicles to the scene of the accident.  Haney and her father were kind enough to drive us to the airport.  She insisted actually.  Now that I look back on the situation, I'm very glad that she did.  Her father was awesome.  He was a real leader out there, directing traffic and having people move their cars so the ambulance could escape from that crowded scene to get the victim to the hospital.  The accident victim was in really bad shape too.  I don't know what happened to the person in the ambulance but I do know that Haney's father helped get them to the hospital a lot faster.

I didn't know the Jedi Mind Trick worked in Korea until that morning.  Haney's father used it with great efficiency that day.  He would motion people to move their cars... and they would move their cars.  He was also a heck of a driver.  He drafted closely behind the ambulance like a NASCAR stock car driver and passed a bunch of traffic.  They felt bad about us missing our plane, which wasn't a big deal at all.  We ended up re-booking a better flight route but more importantly, I think we ended up being bystanders in that accident rather than being in the accident ourselves.

We got a little bit of a late start that morning, departing our hotel five or ten minutes late.  Our best guess is that we missed the highway accident by only five or ten minutes.  We also got to spend a little more time with Haney, one of the sweetest girls you'll ever meet in your life.  She's a very faithful person and believes that we received some help that morning, especially considering the timing of everything.  I tend to agree with her.

 

That's Haney and her father on the right during a visit to Pier 8.

And now we're getting back into the groove here in the US.  Definitely feeling some reverse culture shock.  More on that later.  Until next time.