JOURNAL: Murphy's Law and Taxis

It is pouring in Seoul tonight! On my way to work, it was only sprinkling a little, but as I reached work, the thunder began. Thus began my second bad day in a row. Read it and weep (or laugh, as I am sure I will by next week!).

Yesterday was a rough day; the kids were bouncing off the walls and bickering in ALL my classes. I have marking to do up the wazoo; I spent three hours at home grading essays. Fortunately, most of them were good. I managed to get lost once again on the way to the video store. I never did find it, although I did find a few alleyways that were definately a bit "pink." I contemplated asking one of the "ladies" for directions, figuring that she knew alleyways pretty well, but she would not make eye contact with me, so I stumbled my way back home.

This morning, I made another attempt, but spent an hour getting lost again. Just because you can see a landmark (in my case, a large, majestic Methodist church) doesn't mean you can get there easily. In Korea, you can't just cut across a side street because the streets run willy-nilly wherever they damn well please! I did find a bread store, a Baskin Robbins, and a 7-11. I stopped in a pharmacy to ask directions. Pharmacies, I have discovered, are very good for finding English-speakers, as the pharmacists are usually well-educated. The lady called the phone number on the video tape, and, after several confused grimaces, hung up. She said that the video store was off the beaten path, so to speak (her face expressed amazement that I had ever found it in the first place). She had, however, made arrangements with the video store owner for someone to come and pick it up at the pharmacy. I will never go looking for the store again; there is one a little more expensive near me, but it is not worth the headache to find cheap services (50 cents for three days), I have found.

Tonight, I had a real problem with my middle-schoolers. This class is one of the notorious three (of which I have two!). They were loud, rude, and obnoxious (shooting rubber bands, throwing erasers, etc.) and my patience was fast wearing out. During my second block with them, I was late because my CD player for the listening class was missing. I had someone babysit while I ran to the 2nd floor (from the 5th). I came back, and heard him yelling at them. I guess it didn't take long. Well, I went to plug it in, and discovered the cord was missing! I grabbed the substitute, ran back downstairs, got another CD player, and raced back up again. Great, not only do I have an unruly class, but my authority has been undermined by missing appliances!

Fuming by the end of class (the yelling did work somewhat), I looked out the window. It was POURING. I had a huge bag of notebooks to take home, so I decided I was going to take a taxi. I began trying to hail a cab, but the few that came by ignored me. They would just pass right by. Usually, taxis see foreigners and tailgate us down the street (annoying, but I suppose a good marketing strategy). Usually on Olympic Parkway, there are taxis all lined up in a row, but tonight, they had all mysteriously disappeared. Fifteen minutes later, soaked to the bone, I crossed the street. There was a long line of taxis all in a row going THE WRONG WAY for my apartment. I weighed the odds - either take my chances with a Korean taxi U-turn, which consists of slamming on the brakes in the middle of the road and turning directly into oncomnig traffic, or arrive soaked but alive. Depressed as I was, I decided to live, and squished home.

I will now sign off, as more essays await....