Day 20: Winter Chaos

So it was mid-afternoon today and I looked outside my classroom window to see....big giant fluffy flakes falling from the sky! SNOW!!! It was beautiful - the kind of snowflakes that take forever to hit the ground, big enough that you can easily catch and watch as they melt in your hand...the kind from a page directly from your childhood, when the mere sight of a single snowflake signified entire afternoons building snowmen and forts in the yard, and sledding down the back hill. The kids were squealing with excitement, and spent more time looking out the window than at me. This wasn't a problem today, as this afternoon was "game day," and we spent the entire half-day playing hangman on the board (a big hit with the kids these days.)

Hye-Young was in our school today and she pulled me aside inbetween two of the classes to chat. She's a really nice girl, but I think she's crazy. Well, if not crazy, then just really into me. She loves to ask odd and unusual questions (odd even for a Korean!) and every time I see her she continually asks if I have a girlfriend, if I like Korean girls, what I look for in a girlfriend, etc. I dunno, I just get this vibe that she has a thing for me. I only want to be friends with her though, for several reasons. I mean she's pleasant to talk to, but a little odd, and to be honest she makes me a little uncomfortable sometimes with how *overtly flirty* she is. Either way, she's the only one that I'm really careful with that I don't flirt too much with her - I don't wanna be misleading (or, heaven forbid, encourage even more aggresive flirting...)

By the time class got out at 6pm several centimetres of the white stuff had already fallen - the first time I've seen a significant accumulation of snow here in Korea (we had a light dusting a while back but it didn't even last the night.) I was meeting Charles (the crazy Kolon-Mart one) for dinner that night so I went home and got ready. I put on my woolies and headed out into the winter wonderland to go meet up with him. The city was absolutely stunning - a thick white blanket covering absolutely everything in a soft downy cover. Shihung City looked so calm and so still and so CLEAN under all that snow. Hell, if I looked towards the trees or up at the mountains, I could've almost been back in Canada! Charles and I decided that we were both bored of the restaurants in our area so we agreed to catch a bus to Bucheon to find something over there. If only we had known what adventure taking the bus would be....

As beautiful as the snow was in Shihung, it caused an absolute chaos with the local traffic. I'm not sure how accustomed to driving in snow Koreans are, but cars were slipping and sliding all over the place, and all the drivers seemed to be on edge and near panicky. Every single major road was backed up with gridlock for as far as the eye could see...and so our bus just *crawled* along, inching towards Bucheon. We were moving at a fairly steady pace, considering the road conditions, until we got to what I call "No Man's Land." No Man's Land is the area of city in between Shihung City and Bucheon. A large ridge of land separates the two cities, and the hill is fairly undeveloped and rather wooded. The road leading between the two cities over the hill is also VERY narrow and curvy! (Let's just say that on a good day I'm surprised that the bus makes it okay on this route without either colliding with another vehicle or rolling off one of the steep corners...) In the snowy weather, No Man's Land turned out to be a bus driver's worst nightmare!

It was backed up completely - all the way from Shihung to Bucheon. Traffic would crawl along for a few metres, then stop for ten minutes, then crawl along a little more.... It was absolutely painful! Actually it wasn't all that bad cause when you're with Charles the conversation is NEVER dull. That boy talks about all kinds of things you can't even imagine, and literally has endless crazy stories about his escapades across Asia. Most of his stories are either R or X-rated, so let's just say that I'm glad that we were the only English-speaking passengers on the bus! Traffice was totally nuts though - people were actually abandoning their cars on the side of the road and WALKING to Bucheon. (Interesting side note - Koreans are very similar to Vancouverites in the way that they use their umbrellas for snow - how silly!) Our bus was barely able to make it up the steep hill with all the snow and slush, and a few times all the passengers in the front of the bus had to come down to the back of the bus to add weight and give more traction for the driver! We even passed a couple other busses that were either completely stuck or almost in the ditch! CRAZY! The bus ride from Shihung to Bucheon normally takes 15 minutes, but on this particular night, our ride stretched out to TWO HOURS!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!

By the time we pulled into the bus/subway station at Bucheon, it was after 10:30pm at night and Charles and I were absolutely starving!!! We had originally planned on going to Pizza Hut for dinner, but most of Bucheon's restaurants were already closed by the time we arrived. We ended up having a fried chicken dinner in some Korean restaurant - quite tasty actually! (and, as usual, Charles provided very vivid and 'enlightening' dinner conversation!) After dinner we went and had a drink at Halloween, and then cabbed it home. By the time I got home it was nearly 1:30am!

And this is where the real surprise comes in...

When I got home to my apartment, I walked into the landing and took off my shoes (there are two doors to get into my apartment, and inbetween the two is my landing.) I looked down and noticed a pair of WOMEN'S SHOES by the door.... Hmmm....that's odd, I thought...those certainly aren't mine!!! I went to unlock the second door, but it pushed right open.... I stepped into my dark apartment, and heard rustling inside.... I called out "Hello?" (what does one say in a situation like that? "Whoever you are, get the fuck out of my apartment?") I heard a moan from inside one of the rooms....

WHAT THE....????????????????????????????????

I walked into the second bedroom (I have two - one for me, and one that I use as a storage and clothes-drying area - this second bedroom has 2 extra beds in it as well) turned on the light, and SAW A WOMAN SLEEPING IN THE BED!!!!! IT WAS HYE-YOUNG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Honest to god, my first thought was "Oh My God, she's a crazy horny Korean stalker chick, and she's broken into my apartment so that she can try and seduce me!!!! What the fuck do I do now?"

"What are you doing here!!!???" I called out, probably sounding quite rude. She just kept moaning (luckily a tired moan, not a "come here, you big boy, momma's been waitin' for ya" moan) and squinting because of the light. She didn't say a word I swear for like the world's longest minute, as I just stood and stared at her in disbelief. When she finally responded, she explained that with all the snowfall and traffic chaos she wasn't able to get home (she lives quite far from Shihung City) and so Steven had offered my spare bedroom to her. Ahhhh yes, that makes WAY more sense than my crazy (and probably overly-egotistical) seduction theory. Whew! What a relief!!!

I went to sleep right away, but it was very odd knowing that she was *in* my apartment....

:-P