This past weekend I decided that it was about time I tried going somewhere. I have spent almost every weekend at home on my computer talking with friends or watching movies. Things can be daunting in a foreign country especially when one does not know the language as you can all imagine. After a lot of planning and getting help from my fellow co-teachers who showed me which buses I needed to take, I set off early Saturday morning for the city of Gunsan.
Gunsan is on the west coast near the Yellow Sea. The bus ride there consisted of taking a bus from my town of Pocheon to Seoul which was about a 1 hour ride. Firstly I had to walk to the Pocheon bus terminal which is about a 45 minute walk from my house. I set out at around 5:20 am because the first bus to Seoul was due at 6:20. I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to get there. As I was walking down the quite morning streets of Pocheon I decided that the cobblestone sidewalk needed some company, I decided to gracefully fall and give it a hug. My knees were quite thankful for this as was my right foot who suffered a bit of a sprain that has kept the taxis busy taking me to and from school this week.
I successfully got to the East Seoul bus terminal and with the aid of my handwritten notes and the kind help of a couple of men asking if I needed help, was able to get a ticket and onto the bus to Gunsan. This trip was about 3 1/2 hours. We made a couple of pit stops along the way, one of which was at a rest area. The rest areas here are crazy. They have stores, restaurants, food stands.. Dunkin Donuts! Of course I didn't dare get off the bus for fear of being left behind, I don't care that I had to use the restroom and it would be another hour and a half at the least... I.. was.. NOT... getting... off... the ... bus!!! I can see it now, American woman abandon at bus stop, tries walking home and wanders into the DMZ where she is being held by the North Koreans. I am sure that is exactly what my mother is thinking anyway! :)
Rest assured, I arrived at the Gunsan bus station and not the North Korean border. In fact Gunsan is at least 5 hours in the opposite direction so I was safe! It is also located close to a military base.. SCORE! I was able to find a hotel and get a taxi to take me there. I will not let this language barrier stop me! Or will I??? Ok so it may have some affects on what I do, but I am slowly learning to deal with it. It really does help having this cell phone. I can look up hotels, GPS, translate from English to Korean, and check my email. Every once in a while I can even use it to make a phone call! Go figure!!! :)
Seeing as I had decided to injure myself the weekend was spent in a nicely air conditioned room, laying on a moderately comfortable bed watching the only American tv channel I could find which was playing movies. Oh and I got to have room service. I was pretty much in heaven. The shower was one of those rainfall types and a huge bathtub which is not usual here.
The trip home was uneventful, no falling or missing the bus. Overall it was a nice mini vacation. It was good for me to do something on my own and to experience going somewhere not many people even where I live have gone.
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