Subway Stories That People Can Relate

Via Umbe's fb.
Nothing beats public transport in Seoul. The bus runs on time, every single time, the subways run on time and there are, seldom, if any, delays in service. Owning your own transport, can at times, feel jarring considering how much traffic the roads have but hop onto a subway and you know exactly what time you are going to get somewhere. Ask my future boss, he runs late all the time and he just bought himself a $40,000 car that he can't speed around. 

The very first time I rode on the metro, I got a few stares here and there. I was lot shyer then, my dress code a lot Nepali like and my long, untidy hair didn't go well with natives. If there was, for instance, a seat at the other corner, people wouldn't mind changing there seats to avoid the strange, badly appareled foreigner. Apparently, it's not just me. My other friends have similar stories. But let's not get too sensitive.

Anyways, that's not what I am here to talk about; I am here to talk about some of my most cherished subway rides. The crème de la crème of awkwardness and pure randomness. 

1) That time when it was raining real hard and I hurried down to the station, paid my fees, ran further down, waited for the subway and just when I was about to get in, I hear a bump on the top of the door. My umbrella had been wide open this whole time. 

2) That time when I woke up in KFC in Hongdae station, carried my hungover body to the metro, thanked god for the empty seat and dozed off. When I woke up, I was quite surprised to find myself in Hongdae station again. I had gone full 360 on the green line. My korean friends later commented that, I had, quote, "truly become korean."

3) That first week when I saw, quite amazingly, people dozing off while standing with their hands raised up with a grip. How they actually managed to do so was beyond me until I caught myself doing that a month later. My korean friends, again, remarked that I had "truly become Korean." A Nepali Korean who couldn't speak a word of Korean? yeah sure. 

4) That one guy who got really tired, (this guy must have not slept for at least 48 hrs) and finally when he found himself dozing, he must have head f**ked the glass about a dozen times. Each time there was a "THUMPPP!" people in the subway would just go "oohhh" like how football fans remark when their main striker misses a sitter. The best 40 min ride I had. 

5) That one guy who got really really drunk and thought he was home or something, decided to make the next guy his pillow while stretching his legs onto the opposing seats. He then proceeded to call his wife by name and that he wanted a hot bowl of ramyan. Ramyan my ass. 

very drunk indeed
6) That one time I politely declined a taxi ride and instead decided to take the subway instead. I was running to catch the last train when I realized I didn't have enough credit on my T-money (Transportation money). Checked my pockets for change, nope no change. Headed to the atm inside the subway, turns out it's almost monday and the only bank I had some money in were on repairs. Walked about 5 hours from itewon straight to the lab and actually ended up seeing the very first bus breeze past. Which was annoying. 

7) That time I was in two students clubs and both had MT (membership training aka booze training) on the same day. After knocking a few bottles of mehwasu, I took the very last train to the other overnight MT I had to attend. Ended up waking at the end of the line, end of the station at 1 a.m, having to take an hour ride taxi ride while being forced to speak in a language I couldn't speak. "네, 네"

8) That time when I got into the subway, got my radar up, targeted a seat. The person in the seat quite assuredly looking as though she would stand up anytime. She got off one station before me in a 50 minute ride to now-where land. 

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