Taxi's strike again!!!

Why is it always taxis? WHY?!!! Tonight was going to be one of the most fun nights in Korea- instead it was a real dud! So I took this super fun cooking class from the YMCA yesterday. Yeah, it was free and totally worth my time! I will be making that dish again! Anyway, while there I met a girl who has an entire group of friends that are English teachers and they are very close to my apartment, WHAT?!!! How had I never met any of them before? Well they are with EPIK and I am with TaLK so it would be understandable that our paths might not cross. Plus Daegu is a fairly big city. Well we chatted momentarily and decided to become facebook friends and I was excited to be social. I didn't know how soon it would be before I got to be social so you can imagine my surprise and excitement when the very next day (today) she invited me to be in some tourist commercial and then hang out after. I was PUMPED!!! I ran my errands I needed to do and then left in just enough time. I decided to take a taxi because I wasn't sure exactly where it was and I figured taking a taxi would give me a little wiggle room to get there early and find the place.
I hopped in the taxi and told them the area in which I needed to go "Bangwaldong" Yes, it is hard for even me to pronounce and I live here. Plus they say it with a /P/ instead of a /B/ in the beginning and ... it's just a difficult word to say. SO I also pull up pictures and a map AND an address of where I need to go. (can you tell I've done this before?) The address was in English but it was all I could find. I should have just called the # and had them tell him where to take me. NEXT TIME! Anyway, he acts as though he knows where he is going. After what took longer than expected I start to recognize the area in which we are in. It is past that were we need to go and past the time I need to be there. I try to tell him where to take me again. He pulls over and pulls out his GPS. Why didn't he do this in the first place? Well I very quickly learned it was because he wasn't very good with it. The biggest part that I don't understand is that there is only 1 place the two subway lines cross and that is where I showed him on a map of where I wanted to be. 1 place, it wasn't hard! But apparently it was for him. He drove me to the nearest subway station and now I was late. I saw a line of taxis so I jumped out of his and into another one going through the same routine. Only this time the taxi driver repeated where I wanted to go and waved away my cell phone. Clearly he must have understood.
TAXI #2- He did not understand me. After what seemed to be MUCH longer than it should have taken to get me to that station I started saying my destination repeatedly and he would repeat it back to me and point ahead. I usually take the subway (okay always) so maybe I was wrong and we really were headed in the right direction. Until I saw Dong Daegu train station. Yeah, that was the opposite direction we needed to go. I finally got him to pull over and look at my phone. When he realized where I wanted to go he said "no" , pretty sure that meant no we weren't going in the right direction. So he turned around. I thought for sure this time we would be going in the right direction- until I saw the airport. I was not supposed to be anywhere near the airport. WHAT THE WHAT? Where did he think he was taking me? Then he started YELLING at me in Korean, to which I would respond with "Bowla yo" meaning I don't know and "Hangul bowla" meaning I don't know Korean. Finally I just said "Okay" because I knew he would understand and I hoped it would make him stop yelling at me. It worked. And then I ended up in the middle of who knows where on the opposite side of the city. Away from civilization (which is actually really hard to accomplish because it is a rather large city) and I couldn't even find a taxi. NO SUBWAY station nearby NONE funny that I only had asked for the subway station REPEATEDLY and it was on the map AND it is THE ONLY PLACE where Line 1 and Line 2 cross. What is SO DIFFICULT to understand about this? I don't understand!!! My frustration was rising. And on top of it all I was now over a half an hour late. Great first impression that made. What a flake I am. Sorry- hope you didn't actually need me to help. And I didn't have her number and I didn't have wifi so there was no way to let her know I was lost. Anyway, I got out of his taxi and walked ... and walked... and almost cried. Today was definitely a missing English and America day. I called Colten VERY UPSET. I have such good friends. He listened to the first taxi story then interrupted to ask if I knew where I was. That was the worst part. NO CLUE! I didn't know how to get home either. Some days it just kind of mentally slaps you really hard across the face that you are in a strange land with no common language- sure there is some communication due to body language, but let's be honest, that is VERY INCOMPLETE communication. Why do you think the Deaf use ASL? Because it's more than communication, it's a complete language. You really need language to be able to communicate. Anyway, I finally found a taxi at a red light and threw myself into the car before the light turned green and shouted "Lotte Cinema" because that was near the station I wanted.
TAXI #3- Apparently there is another Lotte Mall with a Lotte Cinema in Daegu. Who knew, right?! So as we pulled up in my head I was like, "no, I don't recognize this place... at all." Out loud I said, "Mmmmm, Bangwaldong?" and showed my map and yada yada yada.... you get the point. The taxi driver insisted I was at Bangwaldong. Well it is a pretty big area and maybe I just hadn't seen this part before. NO, it wasn't Bangwaldong. So I found a security guard and showed him my map and he knew where I wanted and he said "Oh, that is very far from here." Yes, I knew that. I finally got smart and said with miming because he was not understanding otherwise, "You tell taxi Bangwaldong?" Okay okay okay, I think we got it!
TAXI #4- that's right, I said 4 (meanwhile my wallet started to empty. Good thing taxis are cheap and I got extra cash this morning.) So I sat in the taxi assuring Colten that I was pretty sure I was going in the right direction. I just couldn't handle dealing with another driver so I didn't speak the entire time. After a while he asked me some questions in Korean. Once again "Bowla yo. BANGWALDONG." Hmm, I think he sensed my frustration because he didn't really say much again until we pulled up to a subway stop and he asked "Ego?" meaning "This?" I could've either kissed him or cried. Instead I threw open the door and dumped my purse- I think I was just so excited I didn't even care it's contents were now all over the ground. I paid him, thanked him, and he drove away.
The girl who invited me to hang out seems nice and understanding, I hope they will give me another chance for a first impression. They must think I'm stupid. ...Oh well. Anyway, that was my really expensive scenic route for the month. Can I be done with expensive taxi rides? I can't wait for my Korean course to start!! I'll finally be able to communicate. It has been FAR too long, I am getting frustrated with such big barriers. LESSON: Don't get into a taxi without a Korean address or a Korean speaker present (or on the phone). Good luck if you intend on coming to Korea. :)