One of my best friends lives in a town only 40km from my home. It's relatively easy to get to and doesn't cause much stress for getting tickets. The trick is to find the right bus. Yes, it's true: all buses are marked with where they are going, but sometimes D-Town isn't shown. This problem gets more complicated as anyone leaving my city 6 out of 10 times will be going through D-Town. One must figure out if a bus will stop there. It can be frustrating. And to top it off, one trip to D-Town could take you 40 minutes or as long as 75 minutes going through car-sickness-style country roads and alleys. It just depends on which bus you happen to catch.
Well, one evening as I was looking to visit my friends I did my usual foreigner-bus-terminal-dance where I pop my head into a few buses to see if they will take me to where I need to go. Of course I looked foolish, and after several head shakes and waves to go away a man on a waiting bench directed me over to sit and wait with him.
He was an older gentlemen in a vest and blue slacks. He looked similar to the other bus drivers but more casual and a bit distant from the rest area where the others congregated. He gave a few yells to other bus drivers, "D-Town. D-Town? D-Town."
I assumed he was fielding and answering questions like 'where is she going?' 'where are you going?' 'who is your new friend?'
The next part will come as no surprise to fellow expats: I received a polite smile and silence for the next few minutes.
However, moments later a surprising break from the silence came when the man mustered up a question (in Korean)...
"Do you teach in D-Town?"
Feeling confident in my Korean response I replied, "No."
"Are you an English teacher?"
"Yes. I am a teacher at (country middle school)"
"Oh, why are you going to D-Town?"
"Friend."
"Is it a boyfriend?"
"Yes." (This was a lie, but I was so pumped to understand full sentences that I just gave the polite yes almost automatically before realizing what he said!)
"He should be coming HERE to see you, not you going THERE to see him."
I laughed, "Yes!!! But D-Town has many friends and a good restaurant and bar." (Insert struggling for the Konglish version of hoff.)
He laughed, "Beer!!"
I laughed and asked, "Where are you going?"
He said, "I'm staying here. I work for Chungnam Express."
"You drive?" (I gave the universal hand gesture for driving as I was getting to the outter limits of my vocabulary)
"No, no..."
With that, my bus came into view and he escorted me to the door as all the bus drivers stood up to heckle him and smile at our small friendship. As I got on the bus I said thank you and walked to my seat. My bus driver got on the bus shortly after blurting to me with fervor, "Terminal CEO! Terminal CEO!"
The man still standing near the front window smiled and I gave a final bow from the buses long aisle. What a unique way to start the night...
Small Town Charm,
-Bets
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