The Adventure Gains Two Americans...Day 11 in Korea

I woke up early Sunday morning, but was afraid to go back to sleep because I knew that I had to meet two new friends: Lindsey and Aubree. Lindsey and Aubree were two American girls who were working in Seoul at special private school for preschoolers and kindergarten students. Because they lived in Seoul and I lived in Gwangju, Lindsey decided that a little city called Seongnam would be the best place to meet as it was right between the two of us. "How convenient," I thought, "since I happen to work there!" I had stick coffee for breakfast before strapping on my sunglasses and my trusty backpack and heading out to the bus stop. 

We were scheduled to meet at noon, so I headed out a little early so that I could a) make sure I got to the meeting place on time and b) take a route that was a little out of the way so that I could ride the subway! I ran down to the bus stop to wait for my bus. There were many Koreans already waiting there. "Shit," I thought, "I bet they're all waiting for the same bus because it goes into Seoul." It was about that time that a different bus pulled up and they all climbed aboard it. Awesome!

When my bus arrived, I waited for the older people to get on, then climbed up the steps, proudly depositing 1,300 won into the money box. After I saw that there was no protest from the bus driver, I went to find a seat. Unfortunately, all of the seats already had at least one person in them. I thought about standing, but realized that I would just be in the way of people who were trying to exit. I was going to have to sit next to someone. I passed by several old people and chose a young, longer-haired Korean guy to sit next to. He didn't seem too happy that I chose to sit by him. I imagined that his inner monologue was saying something along the lines of:

"Ah, man, whitey's on the bus. Ugh, I hate white people. They smell like death. Look at him...paying with cash. Stupid white guy. Doesn't he know that it's a lot cheaper if you have one of these little cards that go 'bing!' when you scan them? And he's carrying a backpack...why does he need that on a bus that's going to Seoul? Does he think he's going to be roughing it in Seoul? Idiot. Nice sunglasses. I wonder where he's going to si...oh...oh no, not here, not now, nonononononononononoNO...ah, shit."

I like making up inner monologues for people.

The bus rode on, stopping at only a few more places. This particular bus had a little screen that would show the name of the stop that was coming up so that people could save time by forming a queue by the exit door. They could even scan their little "bing!" cards in advance. I was happy about this because I knew what the name of my stop looked like in Korean. There is usually a voice that announces the names of the stations but I could rarely pick out the name of the station among all of the other Korean words.

After about twenty minutes, we approached the Moran Station stop. Moran Station was the end of the Line 8 train coming out of Seoul (or the beginning of it if you were going into Seoul). It also must have been a very popular station because approximately 98% of the people decided to get off the bus at that time, including my new Korean friend who I was sitting next to. The queue started to form, and my guy tried to get out but unfortunately had to try to get past a fat white guy with a backpack in his lap. Most Koreans are slim, but not that slim. I somehow got out into the aisle with one foot trapped in my seat. The Korean guy was trying to get out and everyone in the back was trying to get by me to get out. After becoming quite intimate with a few Koreans, I miraculously found myself back in my seat with my backpack beside me. I rode the bus for a little longer until it got to Janji Station: a station that was a few stops north of where I wanted to go. 

Jangji Station

I headed down the steps into the underground tunnel and found a machine where I could purchase subway tickets. 

Luckily, there's a handy-dandy little button at the bottom that says "English."

After paying almost 2,000 won for a ticket, I ran through what I can only describe as an "honor system turnstile." 

Much like riding MARTA, you scan your card at one of these and go through it when the machine makes a certain beep. If it doesn't make the beeping sound, there's not much stopping you from going through, anyway.

There were lots of signs everywhere (in both English and Korean) to point people to the right train. I had no trouble finding the area to wait. It was nice, clean, and air conditioned! I managed to snap a couple of pictures before hopping on the train.

Yup. That's where I am.

It is a great day for clumsy people and alcoholics everywhere. No longer do they have to worry about falling on the train tracks and being run over by a subway train and/or being fried by the electric rail. There are doors to keep one from doing that.

The train pulled up, I waited for the people who were getting off to exit and I boarded the train. I really liked riding the Korean subway. First of all, the thing was smoother than a baby's bottom and it smelled better, too! The inside of it looked clean, there was plenty of room for people to stand, and the doors were open between cars so that you could easily transfer to another car if you didn't like the one you were in.

After three stops, the train arrived at Namhansanseong Station: the place that I was to meet Lindsey and Aubree. I got off the train, went through the honor-system turnstile, and looked around. I still had about fifteen minutes to kill before I had to meet them and I wasn't eager to go wait outside in the heat, so I walked around and looked at various things inside of the station.

Nice, clean subway station. And there are little places where you can shop on the side!

These were in both subway stations and I have no idea what the hell they are. Gas masks in case North Korea attacks?

At the appropriate time, I made my way up to Exit 2 where I was to meet Lindsey and Aubree. 

Yes, I do wonder why I took some of these pictures.

Lindsey and Aubree came walking down the sidewalk from Exit 1 at noon. They were hungry and claimed to want spicy stuff so I decided to take them to get street food at the spicy chicken place by my school. We decided to catch a bus rather than walking 2 kilometers to the school, so we went and sat at the bus station to wait for our bus. (I'd looked one up on Google Maps) After waiting for about 10-15 minutes, our bus came by but didn't stop. We decided to hop on the next bus that came by and hope for the best. We got on the next bus, paid, (they had little cards that went "bing," too!) and found seats. Luckily, the bus we chose went by the stop that we needed to get off at, and we were able to exit about a block from the school.

Unfortunately, the spicy chicken shop was closed...probably because it was Sunday. Damn. A man on a scooter saw us trying the door and stopped to give us directions to another spicy chicken shop. I listened to him give his directions in Korean, thanked him, and watched him drive off. One of the girls asked what he'd said and I totally pulled one of these:

We wound up going to the restaurant that Sue, Jane, and I had bought food at the previous Tuesday. I knew enough bastardized Korean to order some gimbap, tokbokke, and some Korean sausage. We took it down to the school building and ate it outside on the front steps. (Props to Lindsey for running down to a convenient store and getting us some bottle water to help wash it all down) The girls liked the gimbap, were okay with the tokbokke, and weren't very fond of the sausage (I ate most of it). While we were eating, an old man came outside, looked at us, and shook his head. We assumed that we were just in the way and moved our stuff so that he could pass, but he came out and pointed to various pieces of litter on the ground and told us to pick them up, assuming that we had left it there. We did as he asked out of respect.

After finishing our meal, we walked down to the neat little park that I'd found on my trip to Namhansanseong. While I was there, I managed to get a picture of some of the stacks of stones. 

I think these are graves, but I still don't know for sure

After a while, it was time for the girls to leave so we walked to the nearest bus stop with buses heading in the appropriate direction. I found a few that went to Namhansanseong Station and we hopped on one of them. I rode back with them on the subway a)because I liked it and b) because I wasn't 100% sure how to get home by bus without going back to Jangji Station (even though it was out of the way). I got off at Jangji, leaving the girls to ride back to Seoul on the subway. 

Finding the right bus was pretty easy, and it was practically empty on the inside. Nice. I sat down in a nice cozy seat and watched as we drove out of the city and across the countryside. Eventually we drove through Gwangju-si and I hopped off at the stop nearest my house. Because it was on the other side of the highway, I stopped by the 7-11 and grabbed a couple of beers to try that evening. I hiked back up to my apartment, unlocked the door, slipped my shoes off, and sat in the air conditioning for a little while. I spent the rest of the day blogging, emailing, eating dinner, and waiting for Mrs. Yoon to call to tell me what time I should be at the gas station the next day. She never did call that night. I lay in bed, wondering if I'd done something to offend her, if she'd forgotten, if my phone was working, or if perhaps this was a sign from her that it was time for me to start finding my own way to work. As it would turn out, the reason was more horrible than any that I had thought of.