The Perfect Taxi Driver

Dear Taxi drivers,
You are a creepy a bunch.

I have so much to say, and so little time to say it. Since last week, I've been working an hour later than usual because I got a class added to my schedule...dun dun dun..it's not too bad, but I feel soooo tired when I roll into Myeung San Shi Jeong around 9:30p.m.

Anyhow, my week was chalked full of activities. The two other foreign teachers went on vacation to India for a week, so I took their classes on top of some of my classes. I realized that I never want to be the ONLY foreigner in a workplace. I missed them so much! BUT the good news was that we had a holiday on Tuesday. It was a day celebrating an independence movement of Korea against the Japanese..not independence day...just a movement that ended in alot of death and failure..but these people were heroic, hence a day off of work, and a day full of SNOWBOARDING..yet another first!

I'd never snowboarded, and I'd only witnessed newbie snowboarding and the constant crashing into the ground about every 2 minutes. I was pretty nervous I was going to brake my wrists, or my arm, or my face, or leg, or both legs. But surprisingly after about an hour and 15 minutes and finally getting down the "bunny hill," things fell into place..(hehe..no pun intended). I was so thankful to have Elizabeth by my side learning along with me..I'm pretty sure we invented a new way of snowboarding that made one experienced snowboarder in our group say, "wow, I've never seen someone go down a mountain like you two just did." It was such a blast!

We went to a resort called Muju Resort. It was FREEZING and icy and probably unsafe, but we couldn't pass up the discounted tickets.

Like I said, I fell an absurd amount of times. And while my mind was completely focused on not breaking every bone in my body, situations still came up that made me say, "oh yeah, I'm in Korea." There were several times when I would be going pretty fast and then I would catch the edge of the board and would be hurled into the side of the mountain. It was always during one of the worst falls...(where my hat and sunglasses would fly off of me, and my face would be full of snow..as well as the undergarments) that someone would stop right next to me. What I expected to hear was, "Are you ok?" But what I heard more than once was, "Hello. Where are you from? What's your name? What do you do? Why did you choose Korea?" ..ok, maybe not the "why did you choose Korea," but I'm sure they would have asked that if they had more time. So, there I sat slightly discouraged from the recent fall, hair all sorts of crazy, and sunglasses and hat half way down the mountain, answering these questions to a Korean eager to practice their English.

Gotta respect their drive to learn the language, but seriously, is this the time? One of the worst falls I had was when Elizabeth and I were going down a steep part..Of course, I totally lost control and threw myself into the ground to make a dramatic stop..when I gained consciousness (totally kidding mom), I yelled to Elizabeth, "I'm not going to survive this." As soon as I said that, I hear "HELLO! WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" I didn't see anyone but then I noticed the two Koreans waving from the ski lift. My response: "really?"

It was such a great day, and it was even greater to learn something new! Here are some pics:

You were just conquered, snowboard
The group
Snowboard partner for life!

On the bus ride home, this Korean college student was talking to us and he says to me, "oh, I saw you. Your body will be sick tomorrow, you cannot work." That was a little embarrassing, but he was spot on. The next day, I felt like someone had just taken a bat to my knees, neck, wrists, and hiney.

Even though we only had a 4 day work week, it felt like the longest week I've ever had. I think taking on the Jemal's classes made things go much slower. I had to take Jemal and Yogita's company classes, so every day I would take a taxi to and from the school to the company. And while I was riding in the taxi's I've realized that I have not given the attention to taxi drivers in this blog like I should.

I've never really had too much experience with taxi drivers in the U.S. because I can read and understand the bus maps, but since I don't have that luxury here, I tend to take many cabs. In the past, I've had some weirdee taxi drivers. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Elizabeth and I were going to pick up someone from the bus station and we get in the taxi and he says, "You're from Canada?" and sounded as offended as possible we said, "no, we are Americans." And he says along with a hand gesture that signals a very busty yet skinny waisted yet oversized tushy, "mmm..I like American woman." It was one of those moments when you think, "Where's the ejection seat when you need it?" Another example was of a taxi driver that drove my sister and I from the store to home. He, too, was wanting to practice his English, however, he enjoyed the "swears" more than actual vocabulary.

But this week, I think I got a couple of cooky taxi drivers. The first one, as usual, said, "where are you from?" So, I told him I was from America, and then I asked him where he was from. He laughs, in a creepy way, and says, "North Korea." We both laughed..my laugh was a nervous laugh, and his was more of a cackle, but he was kidding...I think. The second guy was even worse. I got into taxi and quickly realized his English was much better than most taxi drivers. So, we were talking and he asks all the usual questions, "How old are you? what are you doing? what's your blood type?" BUT then he says, "Are you married?" (I should have said yes) "Are you single?" (I should have said no) "Yes, do you want a boyfriend?" ( I should have just stopped talking) "Well, I'm single...you single (laughter)." Me: "haha (nervous)..you're funny. ( what about an ejection seat?)"

But then I found hope. On the last day of the company class, I climbed into a taxi and the taxi driver simply said, "Anyeong haseyo," I told him where to go, he didn't try to talk to me, put on English music..all in the genre of the song, "My Endless Love," and took me exactly where I needed to go. Thus, I found my perfect taxi driver.

The week was full and on Friday I was pretty beat and was feeling homesick for my country's manners, culture, customs, food, and overall behavior of people. I got a little fed up with some Korean's lack of personal space, bluntness, staring, etc, BUT on Saturday I walked about a half hour to the grocery store through parts of town where kids were riding bikes, boys were playing soccer in the school yard, and old men were taking naps on their chairs outside their shops, and my love for Koreans was renewed.

I hope you are doing very well, and if you want to see a good movie, go see the "Adjustment Bureau." :)