So last Saturday started out an adventure and ended in the same fashion. I set out at noon to meet up with some people from the organization I went through to get here to play some kickball. I had been given what to say to the taxi driver to get to the Children's Park we were playing at. So I flagged down a taxi and told him where to take me. The taxi driver either did not understand me or did not know where that was because he would not take me. I had no clue what he was saying but I did know we were not driving. OK so no worries I figure out what bus to take and I am on my way. The problem with the bus is, is that from the route map you look at before you get on, it always seems that your stop will not be far, but while riding on the bus it seems to take forever. I am so impatient, and its hard but even worse is that I never know if I miss my stop or not because I don't know what my stop looks like and I can't read the signs. So I sit wondering at every stop if I should get off or not always thinking as its pulling off that maybe I should have gotten off. So when I finally can't take all the wondering, I get off. I always get off too soon. So I look on the bus route map at the stop and figure out I got off too soon. OK so I figure maybe this is a good time to try the taxi again, I sure am closer. Again I get in the taxi, tell his where I want to go in Korean and again he tells me something. Now I can't understand him but by his body language and such i can tell its a repeat of the earlier taxi experience.
So a walking I go. I walk, following random things I think are important. After about three miles I figure its time to try the bus again. The place I was heading to was near the World Cup Stadium so I get on a bus that stops there, figuring at least I will know where to get off on this time. All is good. I get off at the World Cup Stadium and start walking around. The place is huge. Well the kickball thing started at 1pm and it is now around 1:45pm so I am running a bit late. After asking multiple people and walking another 40 min a Korean girl and her family offer to drive me to where they believe I want to go, luckily on the way to walking to their car I find my destination a whopping 2 1/2 hours after I first set off.
Kickball turned into crazy ultimate Frisbee. I cant catch and I am a bit out of shape, but I made one good catch, and scored, and really that's all that matters right. I met a lot of nice people around my age. Dan, the man in charge of the organization drove me home, thank goodness too cause who knows how long it would have taken for me to get back.
That night I meet up with some of the people I had met earlier that day. We went to a German bar and had great beer. There were a lot of people from all over who spoke English here. We played darts and of course karaoke. We sang Bon Jovi "Living on a Prayer". Fabulous. After we went to a club called the Mix. It was interesting to see Korean people in a different light.
So I left Mix and found a taxi. I asked him to take me to Bongseon-dong, E-mart. He shook his head and we were on our way...to the wrong E-mart. After, we drove around a while, he called someone who spoke English but that did not help, he did not know where Bongseon was and I had no clue how to tell him, nor did I know. So he took me to the police station and well I don't know what he told the police but they did chuckle a little and then asked me where I lived...they knew where Bongseon-dong was and drove me to my street. Never would have thought that in my first month in Korea I would have ended up in the back of the police car...lol..
No comments:
Post a Comment