The Bus

Today I figured out the bus system.

But before I give you the nitty gritty on that morsel of fun, I have some updates. School is going well. We are in what is called holding right now. This means that some students are just testing and not in class. It was a bit easier week for me because of this and also exciting because the other teachers who tested some of my students were impressed with their answers to the questions!! Very exciting stuff. Also, I am still working on games for the kids. Its so hard to think of things that are the right amount of hard and also are engaging and include all the students in the class. I don't want a few kids to dread games or feel pressured.... I am finding that some games work for all the levels. I put the word improvement on the board and had them look for words in the word. Each level did pretty well and were way into the game. It was a lot of fun.

I did not bike much during the week, but I biked a bit the weekend. It is so fast to get around on a bike! So why, you may ask, am I venturing to the bus? Well... Its because Tim moved here on Thursday and lives about 8,000 in cab fare away. But its only 1,000 won to take the bus. And because I am interested in seeing him pretty regularly I decided to try to figure out what to do. I had been on the bus once, to go to the mall, a place called City 7. And because I live in a central part of town I knew that it couldn't be that hard. But all the buses seem to head in his direction, and I didn't know which bus stop I needed to go to so I played it safe, got on a bus that I knew would get me at least to City 7 and then as soon as it went right, when I wanted to go left I got out, and hailed the first cab (about 30 sec. later. Lots of cabs) On my way home, I walked out of his apartment (very nice fourth floor digs) and I saw buses zooming by on a main street not to far away. I found the bus stop for buses headed back to town, and asked the nice man who was sitting with his little 2 year old "sang nam dang?" and pointed at the bus map. He figured out when the next bus came, I thanked him and hailed the bus. I should back up a bit.

The buses are crazy. They drive a million miles an hour. Well.... everyone does. Cabs, buses, little old men... they all drive like they are going somewhere important and everyone else on the road should know it and get out of their way. When a person wants to catch the bus they have to step out into the street and let it know that you are really interested. After that make sure you have exact change to put in the dispenser, you get nothing in return and then hold on. I have seen a guy get on the bus and a split second after his second foot was in the air (the door was NOT closed) the bus was pulling away. Their are plenty of handles to hold and you use them.... This is not a place to bus surf. They weave in and out of traffic, stop suddenly, accelerate quickly and use the horn (as does everyone) very liberally. And the horns are funny because they sound like they are dying. but a slow sad whimper of death. After braving the ride and getting a few stares from the old people and giggles from the teenagers you just press the button and get yourself off the bus and away from it as fast as possible so it doesn't hit you. Its funny.

Anyway, so I am still not clear on which bus gets me exactly from where I am to Tim's stop. I know what bus gets me close to my house, but not as close as possible, and once I figure that out! ooh. I will be happy. Each stop has at least 12 - 16 buses that stop and a screen which tells you what bus is coming next or a huge list. I don't know exactly the name of either the beginning or the end stops, so it is a bit complex. I can tell from the maps that I am getting close to figuring the whole kit and kaboodle out. 1,000 won is less than 75 cents so its absolutely worth the work. and it was a gorgeous day.

Back to school tomorrow for testing and another shot a game with the kids who have been most difficult. I will figure them out soon :)