Another weekend of travel and random adventure. I left from work early on Friday to go to wonju to get a Korean driver’s license. I just finished ‘the class from hell’ (they were ok that week but still mocking, loud, and rebellious…but little did they know they were doing it in English mwha ha ha). So I was a little peeved and rushed running to the bus station (I was cutting this whole thing close. The driving centre closes at 5pm, I was leaving at 2:30, it takes 1.5 hours to get to wonju and about 15 minutes to get from the bus station to the driving center…close!). I arrive and get my ticket and kate is nowhere to be seen. The bus says they have to go and the next one will be in 15 minutes. Kate has my stuff. Aaarrrgggg!! Fine. 30 seconds after they leave she shows up. then on the last minute she bails on me (it’s ok I forgive her). I tell her I’m pissy and that I have to go or I’m gonna snap at her. She understands and goes back home. I get on the bus and calm down (I do have 1.5 hours to go). I get into the bus station and it’s 4:40pm. Should I go or forget it? No I’ll try. I get there just before 5pm. They take me in (I love this country), give me my license YEAH and then one of the girls gives me a ride back to the bus station (I LOVE THIS COUNTRY). I’m now gonna head into Seosan to visit Braden before he heads back to Canada for a month. I can stay in wonju (for $35 and take a direct bus in the morning) or I can go to seoul tonight and try and get a bus from there to season and if not stay the night in a sauna for $10. hmmm. Everyone I know in wonju is away for the weekend…I’ll go to seoul, why not? I jump on a bus.
Now here is where the fun begins. So little known to me I miss the seoul stop and keep heading off and I end up in Suwon (about an hour away). I keep looking for the subway, can’t find it (because there is none), finally ask and find out that you have to take taxis here. Ok. Try to get the taxi driver to take me to the express bus terminal. But I’m at the express bus terminal (the suwon express bus terminal but I don’t know this). They take me to the other bus terminal (which of course isn’t right) so I start calling people to try and figure this out. Now it’s a good things that with my spontaneity I’m also extremely calm in these situations. I get a hold of dusty and he talks to the driver…I end up right back where I started. Oh well. I find out that a bus leaves for soesan in the morning at 7am and I’m about to look for a sauna when I get a hold of braden. He gives me the number of one of the Korean teachers. She talks to a taxi driver and (light bulb) I’m told I’m in suwon (ahhhhh). That explains everything.
So I find a sauna in the bus terminal and $8 later I’m naked in a hot tube. Now it’s one thing to be a naked foreigner with another naked foreigner, it’s another thing to be the only one. I didn’t stay there long. I go to the sleeping area and start reading. About 15 minutes in I get interrupted by this Korean man speaking to me in English. He’s a nice man who works for Samson traveling around a lot. We speak for a couple hours. He keeps exclaiming that he can’t believe I’m staying in the sauna. Westerners never stay in the saunas (whatever…it’s cheep). At midnight I go to the woman’s sleeping area and crash until 6:30 get up and catch the bus.
I arrive in soesan at 9am and get picked up by braden. We have breakfast and then head up a mountain. We meet these cute Korean girls who play with us for an hour or so with hoola hoops and jump rope. Then we head down and meet up with some others teachers (Michelle, Korean English teacher, Abi, English teacher, and Harmony, new English teacher) for sushi. Yeah I love sushi and I’ve been missing it like nothing else. It was amazing.
The weekend was good. Full of risk, good food, theological debates ( I haven’t had those in a while) and hanging out. On Sunday I hopped on a bus back to seoul. I got to seoul and had to wait 2 hours until the next bus, then it was 30 minutes late so by the time I got back to yeongwol it was 10pm. Late night but a fun weekend.
Now here is where the fun begins. So little known to me I miss the seoul stop and keep heading off and I end up in Suwon (about an hour away). I keep looking for the subway, can’t find it (because there is none), finally ask and find out that you have to take taxis here. Ok. Try to get the taxi driver to take me to the express bus terminal. But I’m at the express bus terminal (the suwon express bus terminal but I don’t know this). They take me to the other bus terminal (which of course isn’t right) so I start calling people to try and figure this out. Now it’s a good things that with my spontaneity I’m also extremely calm in these situations. I get a hold of dusty and he talks to the driver…I end up right back where I started. Oh well. I find out that a bus leaves for soesan in the morning at 7am and I’m about to look for a sauna when I get a hold of braden. He gives me the number of one of the Korean teachers. She talks to a taxi driver and (light bulb) I’m told I’m in suwon (ahhhhh). That explains everything.
So I find a sauna in the bus terminal and $8 later I’m naked in a hot tube. Now it’s one thing to be a naked foreigner with another naked foreigner, it’s another thing to be the only one. I didn’t stay there long. I go to the sleeping area and start reading. About 15 minutes in I get interrupted by this Korean man speaking to me in English. He’s a nice man who works for Samson traveling around a lot. We speak for a couple hours. He keeps exclaiming that he can’t believe I’m staying in the sauna. Westerners never stay in the saunas (whatever…it’s cheep). At midnight I go to the woman’s sleeping area and crash until 6:30 get up and catch the bus.
I arrive in soesan at 9am and get picked up by braden. We have breakfast and then head up a mountain. We meet these cute Korean girls who play with us for an hour or so with hoola hoops and jump rope. Then we head down and meet up with some others teachers (Michelle, Korean English teacher, Abi, English teacher, and Harmony, new English teacher) for sushi. Yeah I love sushi and I’ve been missing it like nothing else. It was amazing.
The weekend was good. Full of risk, good food, theological debates ( I haven’t had those in a while) and hanging out. On Sunday I hopped on a bus back to seoul. I got to seoul and had to wait 2 hours until the next bus, then it was 30 minutes late so by the time I got back to yeongwol it was 10pm. Late night but a fun weekend.
posted by Natalie | 5:36 PM
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