Anna & Buses

Got sick this last weekend.  It's been going around to everyone what with the sudden temperature changes and heaters being turned on.  Needless to say I was feeling very sorry for myself and generally miserable all around but, being the (Korean age) 24-year-old that I am, I did not allow myself to wallow.  I had to call in sick on Friday since it'd be hard to teach English without a voice and instead I rested and ran errands.  Went to the bank to get things squared away, went to the pharmacy and got medicine (I refuse to go to the hospital for a cold as my coteachers were trying to get me to do) and, since you can't take medicine on an empty stomach, I even went to the grocery store and bought food.  I haven't really done that since getting to Korea since I'm always gone during the weekends and my aunt stocked my fridge once already.  I felt deliriously proud of myself. Delirious mostly because the world was spinning as I was doing all of this.  Not to mention I was on my bike.  Luckily I did not crash and die (obviously).  Though when I got home, I passed out (not literally mom, don't worry).  But the next day I continued my productive streak and washed the blankets and scrubbed down everywhere else.  It was a good weekend.  I haven't stayed in for a weekend probably since my first one since I'm constantly going to friends or family.  I'm actually being more social here in a foreign country than when I'm at home or New York.  It's extremely tiring.

Unfortunately being a productive citizen can only keep one entertained for so long.  Not long afterwards I convinced a friend to take a cab down here to spend the night <3  We spent the night listening to Kpop, etc.  Thanks to her, I now have 700+ Kpop songs, which I am listening to as I type.  And am thoroughly enjoying it.

The next day I went to Cheongju with her to run further errands (and epically failed in finding a 짜장면 place...).  Usually I end up taking a cab back to my place, which has a flat rate of roughly $10 but that day I was determined to once again risk the public transportation system.  Now, it's not Kworld.  It's me.  Subways I can do, no problem.  But buses...  Even in New York I only rode the city bus once in the entire 4 years I was there.  I only started taking the NYU shuttle bus by force when my dorm junior year was a bit far.  Normally in the city I rode the subway, took a cab or walked.  I somehow always screw up with buses (but not the long-distance buses like the KGreyhound which takes you from point A to point B straight through).  I like to think of it as an under-appreciated skill.  Anyways, the last time I ventured onto a bus, it took me to the wrong area of Ochang.  It was frightening.  I literally got off in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by farmland, in the dark.  Luckily a bus going back the way I came from drove up soon after and I had to go through a few more transfers and a lot of walking (plus a slightly hysterical call to a coteacher) before I got home.  So this time, understandably, I was very adamant on only getting on a bus that my coteacher specified would drop me off in my neighborhood.  I walked out of my way and waited patiently.  I was soon rewarded with seeing my bus with the magic numbers on it roll up.  I climbed aboard, naively.  Twenty minutes later I reached the end if the line, still in Cheonju.  The bus driver looked at me through his rear view mirror with raised eyebrows.  I tentatively asked whether this bus would be going to Ochang.  To which he replied, handing me my death blow, that I had gotten on at the opposite side of the street.  I've done this once before (also in Korea) in the 6th grade and solemnly vowed never to make that mistake again.  FML.  Luckily he told me that there would be another bus, same number, that would start its route in the opposite direction in ten minutes.  I can forgive myself for the first mistake, perhaps the second.  But if I screw up again when it comes to buses, I give up.  I no longer deserve to be a college graduate.

In other news, I'm actually having a lot more fun teaching than I thought I would.  So much so that I sometimes catch myself thinking, dang full-time teachers are so lucky.  I'm actually envious of the 담임 (homeroom/main) teachers because in Korea they get to know their students on such a personal level.  They exchange cell numbers!  Being a subject teacher (English, science, music, etc.), I don't get as close with the kids (especially since I as the only foreign teacher teach so many grades and classes).  But since I have two extra classes, I'm more familiar with them since I see them three times a week for an hour each.  It's tiring but it's really fun getting to know them.  At this point I've given up pretending not to understand them (particularly with the younger ones who can't speak English at all) and nod or shake my head when they ask questions in Korean.  I don't answer in Korea, only English, so I think it's ok...

Anyways, this is a longer post than I originally thought it'd be...  There, little sister.  Hope you're satisfied.