That's right - Wednesday at 1:00pm in the afternoon we were sitting casually reading at home and a siren starts. Except that it is much louder than a regular siren, cycles at a much slower rate and did not fade away as an ambulance siren would have as the ambulance speeds off. Needless to say this is a very disturbing sound that makes one question how far away the end of the world really is. We look outside and there is no one on the street - no cars drive by. We called Betty, the Korean in charge of our happiness, who is indisposed at the time and does not answer.
Is there a bomb shelter we should go to? Where is this shelter? Should we go outside?
The siren ceases much to our relief only to be replaced by the sound of several planes flying low overhead - increasing our concern once again.
Fifteen minutes later, as there have been no explosions and the world appears to be in the same location as it was before all of the clamor began, we chose to ignore the interuption and file it away in our "So this is what it's like to live in Korea" box of extraordinary.
Upon our arrival at work we were told by Betty that the ruckus had been an air raid drill as they are still in a cold war with North Korea. All Koreans are well aquainted with these drills as they are proformed approximately once a month. Everyone driving must stop while the alarm is sounding and those outside must rush indoors (although the rushing indoors is no longer as mandatory as these drills have gone on for years). Can you imagine air raid drills being a normal event in Canada?!