Tuesday 30 June 2009

Last night I stayed at Jessi's so I could skype Belleigh on her birthday. And the package I sent about a week ago actually got there in time. I was surprised since it was so cheap. But, unfortunately, the skype was before the package. Belleigh is a wiggle-worm, just turned four, and I was telling Jessica sister that I hope she still has that engergy when she gets older. Maybe she'll play basketball or tennis or something.

Then this morning I woke up at 7:15ish. It's about the same distance to the school from J's and mine. But I still have to give myself plenty of time because I suck. I guess I could get here in about 30 minutes or less, but I'm late unless I give myself an hour of travel time (and then I'm early, of course). The subway is a lot better from J's, though. I could actually sit down. On mine I have to squeeze my way through just to get off at my stop. Today I almost missed my stop because I was thinking about the 4 stops to get to my apartment, not the 2 to get to work. I'm finally seeing that there is some indications for the rapid trains. I still can't really tell by the terminal signs, but the trains do read rapid after all. Plus, I don't think they're on the same side no matter what terminal, but for the same terminal they're always on the same side. Seems like obvious stuff, but one thing that was hanging me up was trying to figure out which side it would be on in every different terminal. (Right now I hear the kids singing and it's nice. The windows are open and it feels pretty cool in here, but not breezy). It's like trying to figure out which bus goes where. The only way to find out is through someone else telling you. Literally. And I was always afraid that the rapid trains would end up taking me all the way to Seoul or something, but they only skip about every other stop.

The buses I have the hardest time with. The stop announcements are in Korean and you have to push the button before your stop comes. Sometimes you get lucky and a lot of people get off at your stop and you have time to figure out what's going on (I keep talking in 2nd person lately for some reason). Very stressful if you've got to be somewhere at a certain time. The other night J and I got off a couple of stops too early when we went out; I got off a stop too late yesterday for work; the first day I had to yell in English 'wait!' because I couldn't get off in time before he started moving again; today I thought we were at my stop and I push the button, then I looked again and sat back down because we weren't there yet. And, on the way home yesterday I didn't have a seat and had to stand. Scary. It's like being on a ship in a storm. So, this morning, from the subway, I walked to the big bus terminal and there was only one person in line in front of me (a woman). At the bus stop there is no line really, but this is like 6 stops in 1. Anyway, when the bus pulled up and we walked up to it, this dbag tried to get in front of me. So I squoze back in behind the woman in front and I could see him out of the corner of my eye looking at me like I was the rude one. But, since I don't speak Korean, I just stared straight ahead like nothing happened.

When I got off at my bus stop one of the students was getting off too. He didn't say anything to me when we were on the bus, but when we got off he said 'hi' because that's what they always say. Every single one of them every day. I said 'hi' back, but then I was thinking, if you want to keep up with me you better hurry cause I walk fast. I walked ahead of him, but eventually he caught up and walked beside me the rest of the time. I looked over and smiled. It was very cute.

to be continued...