Brokedown Palace

It is surely winter here- sunny, but so cold that after being outside only a short time, my face has become chapped. Last night I went to dinner with friends and enjoyed helping after helping of delicious grilled beef. After we finished eating, two of my girlfriends, Kyle and Rosie, showed me where to find a jjimjilbang. Jjimjilbang is essentially a sauna: it's a place where people go to sit in a variety of hot rooms, heated pools, etc: you can even opt to get a full body scrub (basically rubbed down with sandpaper) and come out soft and new (and raw). After the scrub or sauna or whatever you decide to do, the place gives you a set of pajamas and you sit in comfortable chairs and drink tons of water and eat fruit. I have heard endless good things about these places, and especially because it's so cold and dry, I plan to head to one this weekend. (All of this costs about five dollars.)

After they showed me the place, I hopped on the bus as usual to head back home. It was about 10:15 PM, and the buses in Jinju run until eleven. Though I was pretty far from home (apx. 20 minute ride) and had to transfer to a different bus, I had plenty of time to get back to the stop before the end. Or so I thought.

The bus began chugging along at an alarmingly slow pace: usually, buses are the fastest, most dangerous vehicles on the roads. There were strange sputtering noises coming from the back of the bus, but looking around at the sparse few others on the bus, no one seemed to take notice. Glancing at the first stop, I decided to ignore my instincts and stay on. At the first stoplight, I knew something had gone wrong. The noises had suddenly amplified to the point that they were beginning to hurt my ears, and looking around, there was only one other person still on the bus. We sat through two lights, the wheels spinning and spinning, the bus never moving. Finally, we jolted to a start and kept going. I wanted to get off then, but there were no stops, and before I knew it, we were at another stoplight. By this time, the noise was so loud, I was sure something was going to explode. I somehow knew that the bus wouldn't be moving again, but my options were increasingly limited: 10:35, bitterly cold, and still too far from the transfer bus to chance walking it.

After sitting through three traffic lights, the driver cut the engine and yelled something in Korean to the two straggling passengers: myself, and a young woman heavy with grocery bags. He turned off the bus lights and opened the doors. It was time to get off. 10:40, I had just twenty minutes to get to the other bus. I ran as fast as I could, and I was actually impressed with my speed: though I was certainly out of breath and cold, I was going to make it! After about five minutes at a steady pace, I heard a vehicle approaching me, beeping loudly. I looked to my left and saw the same bus driver, motioning toward me to get back on! Not only that, but he asked me in Korean, "where do you live?" I told him, and he TOOK ME ALL THE WAY THERE, even though it was completely off his route, even though I was the only one on the bus. Incredible! Only in Korea.

More soon,
<3M