Public Transport

So these are my options for traversing this great land of the morning calm:

1. Walking

I do this often. For various reasons. First, because I think it's good exercise since the only restaurants close to my apartment are one Korean restaurant, two bakeries, a McDonalds and a chain called bbq chicken and beer (never been) which is going to make me incredibly fat if I don't watch out. The other reason I walk so frequently is because I have no idea what bus to take to get back to my apartment/get to the train station/go to e-mart or it is too expensive to take a taxi. Taxis aren't terribly expensive, but still. I took a taxi to the phone service place to get it fixed (this is a whole other story for another time... seriously, my first adventure ALONE in a situation where I am not in the least linguistically prepared to succeed), and it cost 4200 won. That's right around 4 bucks, but the bus costs 90 cents or so, and walking is free. I decided I would walk a little ways and look for a bus stop that had buses running to the general vicinity of my apartment. I ended up walking for about a half hour before I found a bus that *supposedly* went to my apartment area. I made it home safely, needless to say, although it was a bit of an adventure.

2. Taking the bus

This is an economical, but highly limited option. This option is limited to the 6 or so buses that run somewhat close to my apartment, as the prospect of tranferring buses seems unendingly long and impossibly difficult. Frankly, taking the bus is pretty cool. Lots of people stare at me like I'm crazy, as I have yet to been on the bus with a single other westerner at any time. It's odd because I see westerners around my way fairly often (everyday I see at least one person who is from the west), but I have never, ever, ever seen a western person riding or even waiting for the bus. It's a pretty simple task really. Especially since most of the buses make announcements about where you are in English. Just stay alert during the ride and be prepared to push people out of your way and pushed out of other peoples' ways. I take the bus to e-mart. I take the bus to dongincheon. I take the bus to shinpo market. I take the bus to city hall. I take the bus all over. I take the bus so I can use the next form of transportation:

3. Train/subway

I suppose it really is a train, since it isn't underground. But, I take the train often. This is because there is nothing where I live, and so to meet with other EPIK people, or to go to Seoul I must take the train. The train/subways themselves, as well as their stations are usually VERY nice. The subway is very clean, and very efficient. In fact, the other day, I took the train to Juan station (about 4 stops down from me) and I stepped onto the train to discover it had been decorated to the nines for the fall. We are talking flowers and orange and yellow and red leaves everywhere, and the doors all had different mural-type images on them. See picture. That's my subway. Each stop is spaced about 2 minutes apart, and there is a rapid train to Yongsan in Seoul which cuts down my travel time to Seoul significantly. I need to get a copy of the Yongsan rapid schedule so I can make sure I catch that instead of the regular. It probably cuts a third off the time it takes to get to Seoul. Anyhow, it's really well run, and usually only moderately crowded. In Incheon, it is almost never crowded but as we approach Seoul, naturally the subway becomes increasingly busy.

I don't mind the influx of people, as long as they are not creepers. Unfortunately, as a 6'2" fair skinned blonde chick, the creepers abound. Last trip to Seoul, this total weirdo old man (we are talking OLD here, like 60+) is staring at me, and standing MUCH closer than is necessary to me. I am standing, holding on to a railing, but then seats open up (luckily none next to each other) and I grab one away from the guy. Problem solved, right? WRONG. In fact, the man just takes my walking away as a beckoning, and so he follows me (after a delay of about 35 seconds, just long enough to allow me to breathe a sigh of relief), and he proceeds to stand over me, again unnecessarily close. At this point, I choose simply to turn my ipod up (oh the soothing sounds of taeyang cooing in my ear *swooooon*) and ignore him. Bad decision. This gives him the impression that I don't mind IF HE TOUCHES ME. So, he leans in, hand reaching out directly towards my chest, and I attempt to lean out of the way (damn that lady next to me, firmly holding onto her personal space). But falter not, he pushes forward while I manage to eck out a guttural grunt of disgust (words had left me) as he pullsa strand of my blonde hair off my sweater just above my chest. Had his hand lingered a half second longer or a half centimeter lower, old man would have lost his damn fingers.

Anyways, as for my other transportation story. This involves sleeping on the subway. The trains here are easily the smoothest running trains I have every ridden (I've taken a fair number of trains/subways in my day, from Europe to chitown to tri-rail), and nothing compares to the KTX trains. Seriously, they have straps to hold onto but you really don't need them. As such, it is very very easy to fall asleep on the train. In fact, I myself am guilty of that very charge. After a long day of Ultimate, an hour and a half trip back to Incheon on a subway that gently rocks you back and forth while the crooning of k-pops is piped through my ipod headphones is my idea of heaven. Evidentally, mine and everyone else on the subway. My second time ever taking the subway back from Seoul, I am sitting between two gentleman. One, an older man, who had been sitting there from the moment I got on the train, and the other, a high school boy, still dressed in his school uniform after a long day of studying at hagwons (or, as they call them in English, Academy). The older man was already dozing softly when I was sitting down (he was lucky enough to get a seat by the door, which has a guardrailing that can act as a surprisingly comfortable pillow) and the boy, along with his friend, got on about two stops later. The boy leans his head back against the glass and starts to nod off gently. The man to my left is clearly in a deep sleep. And what should happen next. The older man rolls his head forward, to the right, and then forward again. He leans forward a bit more, and a bit more, and a bit more, until it seems he is about to put his head in his lap, when BOOM, he falls forward, face first into the floor. Poor old guy is splayed out on the floor, and I gasp in shock, not really sure what the appropriate response is. He gets up, rubs his eyes, sits right back down and promptly falls back asleep. Evidentally, this is nothing to be worried about. All the while the high school boy is sleeping next to me, nodding awake everytime his head slips to one side or the other. As the journey progresses, though, his head manages to slip just a few millimeters further each time before he jolts awake. The next thing I know, his shoulder is digging into my arm as he slips into a deeper sleep. I nudge him awake. The same thing happens again. I nudge him awake. And again. But this time, I cannot nudge him awake. Instead, his tired head falls gently on my shoulder, and I'm sitting on the training wondering, what is the korean protocol for this situation? I don't want to be rude, but my arm is falling asleep. Luckily, his friend takes notice and promptly knees him in the shin (ouch!). He sits up, but only for about a minute. His head sinks again, and he leans into me with dead weight of sleep, and I look up pleadingly at his friend. His friend again comes to my rescue by grabbing his friend by the hair and pulling his head off my shoulder. Again, apparently this is common. From what I've seen since then, everyone sleeps on the train, and everyone leans into each other. Common courtesy appears to be to allow the person to sleep in comfort until he/she impedes your comfort. Dually noted.

I have so many things to tell everyone, and not nearly enough time or energy to type it all!

Upcoming posts:
1. How to get your phone fixed in Korea when it stops working.
2. How to get rejected for McDonalds delivery (probably a blessing, really)
3. Signing up for Korean lessons.
4. Getting oogled everywhere you go.
5. How to respond to students writing you HILARIOUS notes during class.
6. How to stay strong at the sight of dozens of pink ribbon and flower laden cafes and the delicious pastries and cakes they contain.
7. Why my students are better than yours.

xoxo,
A