Working In Seoul

At the request of one of my cousins (Thank you Brad) I am FINALLY updating this blog. While I agree that time does fly when you're having fun, I think time also flies by when you're working a full time job and just busy in general. As most of you know I have finally found a full time job...using my degree (woo hoo!). The ONLY downfall is that I am commuting a little over 3 hours roundtrip every day. Here in Korea that seems to be the norm. My work hours are from 7:30am to 4:30pm and I feel SO VERY fortunate to have an amazing supervisor who is understanding of my commute and flexible with my work hours. Since we are only authorized one vehicle here, I take the subway down to work every day. I catch the subway at 5:50am and I'm home by 5:45pm. 90% of my commute is spent on the subway...with that being said, I would consider myself a subway expert at this point. What that also means is that I interact with a lot of Koreans on a daily basis...as I tell Clayton everyday, there is NEVER a dull moment on the subway. I can always count on seeing something interesting each and every day. Most people may not think that public transportation, specifically a subway, could provide such entertainment...but it does.
           My morning subway commute is relatively quiet. Most people are sleeping or reading. I tend to utilize this to call friends and family back in the States or read. However, it is usually very difficult for me to read because I tend to get distracted very easily by the people getting on and off. I am very much a people watcher and I will admit that sometimes I stare a little too much. I don't do it intentionally...but it's like when you see an accident and you can't stop looking at it. I feel like here in Korea I can get away with staring at people because I am seen as the "foreigner" and not the creeper that can't stop staring at people. I tend to stare more at the Korean women than the men. The younger Korean women, and even the men, are OBSESSED with looking at themselves. They can't walk by a mirror without stopping and fixing their hair or applying lipgloss. On the subway, most will put their makeup on or do some touch ups. This doesn't bother me so much, it's when they pull out their compact 20 times in a 10 minute ride and fix their hair and check their makeup situation. I just want to tell them that they look the exact same 2 minutes ago when they checked! The best is when the females sit right beside me and constantly pull out their mirrors to check themselves out. I will usually turn and stare at them...so it's obvious that I am looking RIGHT AT THEM. Most become self conscious that I'm staring and quit. It's like Pavlov training the dog. I turn my head and stare every time they pull it out until they just stop. Now yes, this is mean and some may say it's hateful...and maybe I shouldn't care that they stare at themselves...but I do...and it  helps to pass the time by.
      I have made several friends on the subway...one being the "gum lady" that walks up and down the carts selling gum for $1. The "gum lady" is very old and missing all but two of her teeth. She's also a great saleswoman. I see her everyday towards the end of my commute. She walks up and down the subway cart mumbling what I assume to be "buy some gum" in Korean. The first time I noticed her, she walked right up to me...as I was the only American/foreigner on the train...put a pack of gum on my arm (I was sitting down) and continued with her sales pitch. When she realized that I was not buying the gum from her, she became a little upset and started beating me with the gum pack in an effort to tell me that she REALLY wanted me to buy the gum. I didn't budge. Finally frustrated and fed up with me she snatched the gum and proceeded to slap me in the face. Yes that's right...the old toothless lady slapped me in the face because I would not buy gum from her. I was in shock and did not know how to respond...so I just sat there. Well, I continue to see my old lady friend everyday, and she continues to sell her gum. Now when I see her coming down the cart I pretend like I'm asleep so that she won't harass me. Thus far it has worked. I've also made friends with this old man who wears a white ballcap with the word PIMP in huge all cap silver sparkle letters. Again, he doesn't know that we're friends, I've only given him the "whats up" head nod...but I feel like somewhere in time, long long ago, we may have been freinds...or maybe if he was 50 years younger we would be friends. I've also seen some crazy stuff like people fainting on the subway and the whole train having to stop, there's the old men that pee in the trash cans inside the subway stations, the homeless men who take off their shoes and lay down on the subway seats, taking up 4 seats which makes me very angry. No one ever yells at them for taking off their shoes and laying down but I guaruntee if I were to do that I would get yelled at. There's also the little old ladies that like to come up from behind and push you out of the way to get a seat. Those are my personal favorites. I've started shoving them back...which may sound terrible but it's every person for themselves on the subway.
           As I said earlier, Clayton and I are only authorized one vehicle over here. While I take the subway to and from work, I still have to get around base occassionally when errands need to be ran. The bus system on base is terribly inconvenient and taxis are ridiculously expensive. Clayton and I decided to beat the costs of taxis by bringing his mountain bike down and leaving it at my work. I was initially really excited about this because I would be killing two birds with one stone; being eco-friendly AND getting exercise. Now, I have not rode a bike since I was in 5th grade, but in 5th grade I was REALLY good at bike riding, so I thought that riding Clayton's mountian bike around post would be a cake walk. Well, my first time out on the bike I was pumped. It was a gorgeous afternoon. I got my helmet and safety vest on and geared up. I initially struggled to get on the bike because it's about two times too big for me. I finally got on and quickly realized that riding this thing was nothing like riding the bike I had in 5th grade. There were so many buttons and switches and handles that I didn't know what was what. I start cruising down the road and to be honest I was swerving quite a bit...like into traffic. I was not riding the bike on the sidewalk, I was riding it in the road...with the cars. The longer I stayed on, the more nervous I became. What was I thinking!? I have not been on a bike in YEARS and my first time out I start riding on a MAIN ROAD!!? As I saw my left turn up ahead I panicked. I knew that if I got off the bike and crossed at the crosswalk I would not be able to get back on the bike so I took a risk and made the left turn with the rest of the cars. I knew that I was supposed to make some kind of signal as I was turning to warn other cars that I am turning left but I couldn't remember what that signal was. I took turns waving my arm in the air and pointed left. I'm not sure if this was correct but I do know that I probably looked like an idiot in the process. Once I made my left turn it was a straight shot down the main road to my destination. I had forgotten though that there was a HUGE hill/bridge that I would have to ride over. I saw the hill at a distance and I started pumping myself up. I gave myself a little pep talk and then said a prayer as I approached the hill. Keep in mind that I am still riding in the road with the rest of the cars. I get about 4 peddles into the hill and I realized I couldn't peddle anymore. I was pushing so hard and I just couldn't get the bike to go any further. I swerved left into traffic, had a few people honk at me and then took a sharp right into the curb and fell off the bike. Needless to say I was MORTIFIED! This quite possibly could be the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to me. I didn't know what to do and I didn't want to look like an idiot that just doesn't know how to ride a bike so I grabbed my knee and pulled a Peter Griffin for about 20 seconds before realizing that I looked like an even bigger idiot just sitting on the curb holding my knee. I jumped up, and started walking with the bike over to the nearest building where I locked it up, and then called Clayton bawling my eyes out. As my husband, he was much more concerned about my phsyical safety than my pride. I cried as I told him that I was going to be "that girl" in everyone's conversations and how I would not be able to go out in public ever again. I told him I was not ever getting on the bike again, hopped in a taxi and finished the rest of my errands via taxi. The bike did not make it back to work with me. Clayton eventually came down and got it for me as I was too traumatized to go and get it myself.
            Other than being slapped in the face and falling off bicycles things have been relatively calm here. We had our buddy Wang come out and visit for a week. Unfortunately I was sick the whole time and not as much fun. Clayton flew back to the States for his grandmother's funeral over President's Day, which we were so happy that he was able to get off work and go out there. We are currently preparing for the arrival of Clayton's parents and grandfather. They will be staying with us for 10 days and we are SO excited to have them. We have also booked a trip to Thailand and Cambodia this June which we are super pumped about. We'll be going for 10 days to Siem Reap, Cambodia where Angkor Wat is located (The Tomb Raider and The Jungle Book were filmed here) and to Phuket and Bangkok Thailand. This is by far the one trip that I have been waiting to do for a while now and I'm so glad that we are able to make it happen. More than likely we won't travel between now and then because we should have several of our friends and potentially our siblings visiting with us over the next few months. We are so looking forward to seeing some familiar faces and sharing a piece of our lives with them.