Getting Home

I'm 23 years old. Sometimes I feel like a 23 year old... I feel very young and inexperienced, but there are other times when I feel like an old woman.

I feel like an old woman sometimes because my body doesn't like to squat for long periods of time without protesting...
Also, I don't like to drink much. I mean, I'll have the occasional drink with a meal or with friends, but I'm just really not into it. My co-teachers and my adult students want to take me out drinking... they're all in their 40's... I'll probably go out with them, but I don't really want to drink all that much... what's wrong with this picture???
Today my adult students looked up the word "conservative" and told me, "Hilary, this is you." I think they meant it as a compliment... I think.

Also, sometimes I'd much prefer to stay at home and read a book rather than do anything else. Seriously. I think this is a BIG flaw for a person my age... I mean, I can't think of a single thing that shouts "NERD!!! Look at Hilary, the big NERD!" louder than my repeated desire to just stay in and read... but I don't care!

BUT, here's why I feel like a young woman: I just spent the last hour in my apartment eating salt and vinegar chips, watching The Office online and dancing around my apartment to the music of Anberlin. I'm not patient enough (and I don't care enough) to make myself a proper meal, so a persimmon and the salt and vinegar chips were it.

And there real story... how I got home on Saturday night!

Saturday night I was in Myeong-dong with Jessica hanging out at Trevor, Rachel and Ruda's Tlace. Jess, Ruda and I watched the last episode of Season 3 of The Office and it was big deal... so we had to stay and finish the whole thing. Therefore, it was about 11:30 before we left. Now, some things you should know about Seoul is that the Subways and bus lines close down at around 12a.m. I HATE this. It feels like I have a curfew! Jess and I were bookin' it trying to get home, but we only made it as far as Seoul Nat'l University. This wasn't too bad... only 2 subway stops away from my place... but over 4 miles of walking in the bitter cold on a Saturday night just didn't appeal to me or Jess. So, our options were to catch a cab or bus.

There were a few obstacles. First, the road was packed with people trying to catch taxi's and the bus. Our chances as 2 foreigners for catching either of these modes of transportation was severely limited. Dang language barrier is a PAIN IN THE BUTT! Not to mention discrimination... but I'm not going into that right now!

Now, there was one bus line still running and fortunately for us, this bus would take us right to my apartment... however, there were about 50 other people waiting for the same bus and most of these people were VERY determined looking ajumas!

Jess and I had a conversation that sounded a little bit like this...
Me: "Ok, we have to be rude!"
Jess: "I am not afraid to hit people in the face!"
Me: "Hahaha! Oh man! Look at all of these ajumas waiting out here!" There was a particularly big and fierce looking ajuma right in front of us "Let's stay behind her and she'll get everyone out of the way for us!"
Jess: "Yeah, she looks scary!"

BUT, after waiting for about 10 minutes (it was a LONG 10 minutes!) the bus still hadn't come and Jess decided that we should cross the street, try to catch a cab over there, have it make a U-turn and go home that way. I thought this was a bad idea. I knew that as soon as we left the bus stop area, the bus would come and we would miss it. On top of that, I doubted that we could catch a cab on the other side of the street that would be willing to make a U-turn.... However, there was no guarantee that we would make it on the bus either and it certainly wasn't coming...

So, we went with Jess's plan due to my indecisiveness (Jess has this thing about being indecisive... if you're indecisive and she's sure about what she wants to do, then you do what she wants to do... I actually think it's a good system). So across the street we ran (we ran because there were cars coming and we didn't want to die).

As soon as we got to the other side of the street -- the bus came. ARGHH!!! I KNEW that would happen! And, of course there was no cab in sight! But then I had a brainstorm! I thought, if we run, we can make it to the next bus stop before the bus does! So, before I even consult Jess on the idea, I start running down the sidewalk to try and find the next bus stop! I shouted back to Jess what my plan was as we were running... how's that for decisive! HA!

And, believe it or not, we made it. After bobbing and weaving along the sidewalk in order to avoid pedestrians and another death defying scamper across the street, we made it to the next bus stop before the bus came! YES!!!

I was so excited! At this bus stop there were only 2 other people waiting for the bus. I was so happy that we made it and that my idea worked! But, then the bus came rolling down the street....

Picture, if you can, a large city bus. There are about 26 seats and standing room for about 40 people. Now picture the same bus packed so full that there are people literally smashed up against every window. I never knew so many people could squeeze themselves into such a small space. There were probably at least 100 people on the bus. The bus is slowly rolling towards the bus stop and it is so packed that it's leaning heavily on it's right side. I mean, if this bus driver takes a right turn, even just a little sharp, it's GOING to tip over. As cold as I was and as much as I needed to get home, I was relieved when the bus driver refused to stop and let us on!

But, DANG IT! What now?

Then, after we watch, in awe, this bus roll down the street past us, Jess patiently suggests that we try the whole "catching a cab on the other side of the street" thing again and get home that way.

Ok, fine. We're out of options. So, again, we scuttle across the street (still death defying... for some reason we just couldn't catch the traffic lights at a good time... always a little late so we had to run for it!) and right before our eyes a free cab appears. But, there's a man heading right for it!

"No, no, no, no!!"

The man pops his head into the cab, asks something and then walks away!

"YES!"

We hop into the cab and ask "Nangok Ipgoo kyo?" (This basically means, will you take us to Nangok street, which is the street that I live on)
Cab driver, "Nango Ipgoo?"
Me, "Nae!" (Yes)
Cab driver, "Ok!"
Me and Jess, "YES!!"
Me, "Good idea Jess!"

And we make it home! It was quite an adventure. I loved it. It was a rollercoaster of emotions... I think the crescendo being when the man walked away from the cab and our cab driver didn't rip us off and actually did make a U-turn and take us home the right way!

*Sigh* Not so old after all. I just like to be young in different ways than most people expect, I guess. Like, acting like a total idiot when fully sober! It's much for fun that way!

God is good
All the time
All the time
God is good!

Peace out!

Hil