The Driving Story (AKA the unexpected Seoul excursion)

There's a common saying that you don't realize how good things are until they're gone.
I can relate to that somewhat after this weekend.

Transportation in Korea is one thing I have come to enjoy using and depending on its reliability. The idea of driving myself somewhere is strange but still somewhat familiar. It's such an American idea of having your own mode of transportation, and only you and your family getting to use said mode. I have come to miss listening to the radio and the peace and quiet of solo drives. Korea has made me appreciate being driven around and has given me patience in the midst of mass transit, be it subway or bus-and even taxi.

This past weekend, my roommate Kim and I were going to a conference on teaching strategies that promised to be very practical. We were both excited to go, but did not like the idea of nearly two hours on the subway at an ungodly early time on a Saturday morning. The idea of borrowing a car came up and quickly became a legitimate possibility for our trip, saving us time in travel and giving us extra sleep time (win-win!)

The day came and we had GPS and directions from people who'd been to the school where the conference was held. Having access to a vehicle and not being dependent on a subway timetable or having to stand for the 2 hours to our destination was so appealing and foreign to this girl who's almost used to going without that nice amenity.

We had to be at the school (we thought) at 8:30 that morning, so we set out just after 7 to make sure we had plenty of time to make it there. Our directions were detailed and informative, however, one wrong turn in Korea can get you lost and there's almost no returning to where you were when you originally got lost. Very few of the easy-off-easy-on access from highways like in the States.

Kim was doing superbly with the driving, being much more experienced at it than I am. (I haven't driven at all in Korea-just to clarify) As the navigator, I was determined to aid her in getting us to our location as well as I could. I noticed our written directions indicated we were to get off when we saw an intersecting highway, and when that highway number popped up on an exit sign-we exited, but found it was in vain. Thankfully that exit did have easy access back to the major highway we'd been on and we continued.  To double check ourselves on our directions, I called the wonderful-giver-of-the-directions (our boss) who patiently explained them again to us (even though I'm pretty sure I woke him in calling him eh-heh). After his patient and detailed explanation, I asked him how long it should take us before our exit.
That's when we realized we'd gone the opposite direction of our destination and he told us we'd double our travel time by heading that way.
uh oh...
So we probably weren't going to make it on time, but we persevered and kept on trucking.

After going through the zillionth toll booth that morning, we got off the highway at the next exit in order to find a spot to turn around, which NEVER came.
We're driving and driving with no idea where we are (except of course, that we're in Korea).
Kim and I started thinking about options. Should we ditch the whole conference idea? It was a gorgeous day and we could go enjoy the lovely spring day. Should we go to the nearest subway station and go from there by train? These and several other options came up.

As we're meandering along, we are driving along a river that winds through the middle of Seoul,
with a plethora of interesting sights to notice. Our focus for some of that leg of the trip became our surroundings.

 The building in the bottom picture is the 63 building, the tallest in Korea.

And the highway we were on had some interesting parts things to see as well...

anyway....we got the GPS to work....or so we thought and we continued on thinking we'd make it but a little late.
Well, our GPS, which had an address we'd gotten from an official website, took us not to our destination, but somewhere we had no idea what it was.

Driving around that area a few minutes we realized we were semi-close, but weren't getting there on our own. Kim decided to ask a taxi driver to lead us there and we'd follow. That in the end was what got us there AT LAST at 9:30!
We found out later that it started at 9....so only a half hour late.

The trip was quite taxing and made me thankful that our 2nd day we could take a subway and not have to deal with directions like we did that day.

It was such a gorgeous day with the cherry blossoms coming in, I had to take a few pictures to remember it all :)

 at lunch outside enjoying the cherry blossoms

                                   Kim :)

 Different parts of the city I'd never seen before as we were on the subway

Homesick? Now? after all this time?

It hit me this week that, oh yeah....it's April now!

Wow! Where has the time gone?!?!

My mom's birthday is April 1. Birthdays in our family are definitely a time for everyone to get together, celebrate the birthday person, eat some yummy food, and share laughs and a good evening together. So, of course, that happened this week. My sister was good to share a picture of them all out celebrating my mom. I had called home a couple of times that day to chat with Mom and wish her a great day.
During the course of my morning on April 2 (which is still April 1 central time) I got a voicemail from my mom that was ten minutes long. When I read my phone saying the length of the message, I had mixed feelings, I hoped for no bad news via voicemail. I ended up listening to the message and realized it was a pocket dial during the birthday dinner.
I was telling a coworker about the lengthy message when it hit me that I wasn't there for the dinner. I wasn't there to know what they were all laughing about and reveling in. I wasn't there. I had that "George Bailey" experience where I felt for a few seconds what it would be like if I'd not been born. Of course, I quickly realized my emotions were getting the best of me and I was freaking out about a significant event that I was not home for. Still, I felt lost, homesick, nomadic, and alone. I knew they were my family, but the distance of it all slammed into me and wrecked me for a long while.
That was such a tough day. I wanted to go home right then and there and not look back. But, I knew in a few hours I would be at a different place with my emotions. I'm glad, so glad, I was kept from making any snap decisions in those hours.
In talking to some people who are much wiser and more adept at handling the distance due to years away from home for birthdays, holidays, and life events, I am grasping onto the encouragement that this experience will get better. I will be able to deal with it more efficiently, but the ache will be there still. This is going to be a part of my life for a while; it's not going to stop being a heartache but through the grace of God there will be a way to deal with it better.

Next month is Mothers Day, which is the day after my dad's birthday which also happens to be my baby brother's high school graduation day. Dear Lord, help me!

thinking ahead...

Before spring break, the bulb in my projector that I have come to LOVE having with my smart board in my classroom BLEW out, much to my chagrin. I spent TWO whole days without the use of my smart board which was awkward.
I put in a request with our IT guy for a new bulb, not expecting it to be put in by spring break as he was on a missions trip with our middle schoolers.
Post spring break, he saw me in the hall and said he had gotten the request and had a few questions. I figured it would be at least another week's wait for the bulb to be ordered. However, in February, three or four other bulbs in the building needed replacement and he had ordered those AND an extra one for whomever was the "unlucky" person that lost their projector bulb.

So, I'd spent some time during spring break stressing about at least a whole week without the use of my projector and board. And I didn't have to go a day more without it!

So today, this April Fools Day, this girl is thankful for a thinking-ahead IT guy at our school whose foresight saved me a headache. :)