The Bus Ride

Mr Lee warned me this week that because of the Wangin festival this weekend, we should avoid the bus during the day. I figured this was another occasion of my coteachers being a little too careful for me… but I was wrong.
It took the bus over an hour to move the six kilometers from Yeongam to Gurim, the home of the Wangin festival. The main site was the local high school. The line of cars was so long that both in front and behind I could not see the end of it. I was surrounded, the bus was loaded, and I had present and former students all around.
The bus ride showed a huge contradiction in what I have been told again and again is dictated by Korean culture. People are taught in Korean culture that they are to respect their elders, a point which my new coteacher at the elementary school pointed out to me as being in contrast with Western culture. But you know what? I was the only person on the bus who gave up their seat. And to top it all off, the seat was taken by a middle-aged couple instead of the geriatrics standing in front of them. Meanwhile, all of my old students were sitting. And young people were all around, seated and ignoring the people standing. These are people old enough to break their everything being made to stand. Anyways, I just had to point that out.
The ride, other than that, was beautiful. The cherry blossoms are nearly in full bloom now, so there was a lot to look at. I took a number of pictures, which will be going up soon.
There was a young girl on the bus, who talked to me a bit, but gave up when her vocab ran out. Then, when she spotted another white guy at the festival, quickly pointed him out to me with a hopeful look. It was funny. Then, a few towns later, a young guy got on, and he talked my ear off. He took lessons with a friend from the Philippines, and they were clearly paying off. He said he liked Canada, and wanted to travel there, but hesitated when I told him that it was more expensive than touring southeast Asia. I hope he still does though.