Just another manic Monday

I brush my teeth either squatting over the drain in my bathroom, or while conditioning my hair in the shower. When I want to wash my hands, I hike up my pants, put on rubber shoes and stand as far away from the faucet as possible. Lean in, wash as fast as possible and get out before the back splash can find me. When I want to clean my bathroom I simply remove the shower head from the wall and spray down the entire area.

When I walk down the street I look for spit on the sidewalk. I carry my umbrella if it's even cloudy. the acid rain will make me go bald otherwise. Or so the legends say... I try not to gag as I pass drains. I watch for scooters shooting out of side alleyways.

I had a really scary thing happen to me on the subway the other day. I hesitate to tell you because I fear the response I will get, but I want to tell anyway.

I was riding from my place to Christina's place, it takes about an hour on the train. I have done this trip many times, and had already done it once that day. It was about 10pm Saturday and the train wasn't very full anymore. I had an empty seat on either side of me. A drunk man entered the car I was in and stood on the other side, facing away from me, yelling at the window. No one seemed to care much, just moved further away from him. I was listening to music, so I just kept my eye on him and sat there. The next thing I know he comes over and sits down beside me. This makes me uncomfortable. So I shift away from him, trying to let him know I am not interested in talking to him. He appears to be about 75 and reeks of alcohol. So I am not paying attention to him until he starts yelling AT me and hitting me on the shoulder, arm and chest area. Then I got worried. I didn't really know what to do. I tried to tell him no, and that I didn't speak Korean. I thought that if I got up he might try to follow me. I couldn't get off the train, we were moving and there were at least other people around if I stayed. So I just kind of sat there and got more and more alarmed as he continued to yell at me and hit me. Then a woman a couple seats down came and grabbed me and motioned for me to follow her so I did. We moved across the isle and sat down. Then this crazy old man followed and sat down right across from me and started yelling at me again. At this point I was about to burst into tears. What did he want? I have no idea... he was just yelling and pointing. And I didn't know what to do. Thankfully the woman came back and motioned for me to follow and I followed her into another car where there were tons of people. She stuck me down in amongst a bunch of hikers that had all kinds of gear piled around them, so I kind of sunk in and tried not to be too noticeable. Thankfully I didn't have much further to go. I called my friend Kenton when I got to my station and he came and met me at the door so I didn't have to walk anywhere by myself. I felt a little rattled and wasn't too sure I could handle any more encounters with the crazies that night.

So I am alright. There is not a lot that could have been done to prevent that situation. And I don't know what I will do in the future. The subway is the main form of transportation here and it is actually the safest place to be most of the time. So I guess I will just practice up my karate skills and next time beat up some old guys.

I am getting pretty sick of being here. I like it alright, but I am really over all the unnecessary attention. I miss being able to blend in and be normal. I miss being average and boring. I can't wait to just be another random white girl, who speaks the same language as everyone else and who wears jeans and tshirts and is happy with it.

And that is it for now. All my random thoughts thrown out there for you all to read and freak out about =)

michelle