I am getting to know the metric system. Kim will say "In 500 meters, to the right." What? What is to the right in 500 meters? Do I turn right, exit right, stay right? When is 500 meters? When is 200 meters? Kim, you are failing me. Kim, what exit am I taking? Can you say it? That's all I get, 'to the right in so many meters'?????? Help! Damn, I missed the turn. Time to recalculate, Kim.
That pretty much says it all, except who the heck is Kim? Kim is our Korean GPS. Yes, I named her Kim with the help of my friend, Sam. What can I say? Adam and I named our Garmin GPS in the States, Sheila, because we use the voice with the Australian accent. Ugh. Sheila. I have been known to talk to Sheila and on occasion even use a cuss word or two. OK. That is a big understatement right there. I talk to Sheila constantly, like she is sitting in the car, and I talk to her like I don't like her. I like to use Sheila to see where I am in relation to upcoming exits and if I need to search for a gas station, Starbucks, etc. However, I really prefer to use my own GPS system in my head that is called my brain. That can generally work in the States. I can read directions online, make a mental note and off I go with Sheila as my back up. That is not true here.
I think I said before that I feel disoriented here because addresses are written so differently. And THEN every brochure, website, map or tour book will give an address just a little bit differently. I think some things are lost in translation. So, you may think you have a correct address, try to program it into Kim and she may or not have that street, city or county spelled exactly the same way the website has spelled it. So, then you have to guess is it Jinwi-ro, Jinwi-ri, Jinwi-gi, Jinwi-go??? I just made those up as examples, but that is how it is. That example could easily be used for a street or city name. So, you could guess on the city and then look for the street and it is wrong. Go back and pick a different city section and then find you have 3 choices for streets. See what I mean? It is frustrating, confusing, irritating, the list could go on. One thing Kim does have in her many options is to search for a business or landmark name. She probably has millions programmed. So, that is how I start my search, with a name and then go from there.
Kim is quite the system. She is a Korean brand, Woori, which is in English. She can take and save notes, play music, pick up a TV signal, play movies, (she came with her own SD card for media), and I think she even has Bluetooth capabilities. I am sure there are more things she can do. Oh, if you attach a camera to the back of your car, she can help you see behind you when backing up etc. We picked Kim because she has lots of places preprogrammed and she comes with free updates. You can buy a Garmin here, but you have to have it updated with Korean maps, but then it doesn't always have as many places programmed and you can pay big bucks for updates, if you choose. It was a tough call. We liked the familiarity of the Garmin. However, the convenience of all the preprogrammed places in the Woori and the man that sold it to us has a booth on base offers technical support; we thought that was a better choice for us. We did try to buy a used GPS, any kind, but they sell fast and we weren't fast enough!
She has a fairly large screen and then she splits it with her guidance. So, a split side screen will show you the exit lanes and the larger part of the split screen will show you the main map. It is hard because, you need to watch the road, not Kim's fancy screens. And then where she shows how long until the next exit, turn or ' to the right' is confusing. It is all a matter of getting familiar with it and getting the settings just right. I guess I could take her in for some support, but I am stubborn and want to figure Kim out. A quick side note on being Kim's 'master'…. Sigh. My cell phone. I feel like such an idiot because I have a pay by the minute kind of phone and I can't add the minutes. You buy a calling card with 30 minutes to add to your phone and they are good for 30 days. Seems simple enough, right? Wrong! You have to have the Korean employees at the kiosk add the minutes of your card to your phone for you because the directions are all in Korean. If you want to know how many minutes you have left, you have to stop by and they call in for you to tell you when they expire and how much is left. I hate that dependence. I want to do it myself. Hence, why I want to figure out Kim and not have to take her in for help for easy stuff. Crazy? Yes. Stubborn? Absolutely. Controlling? You got it!!! At least I can admit it.
The bottom line is this: I am learning to trust Kim, but it is difficult. What I have decided to do is turn Kim on wherever I am going off base so I can get to know her better and just get used to her screens and prompts. I suppose I really do need to get on board with this whole metric system and figure out my meters too. That may be easier said than done.
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