The Three Stooges

Seriously? Apparently there's never a dull moment on the subway! It was raining from all directions on Saturday, so I decided to postpone the shopping trip until Sunday. So after getting off at Jungang-dong in Ansan to head to Dongsan church and having Thai food in Gojan-dong, I walked back to the station around 3pm to head to Myeong-dong. One and half hour later, I fumbled through the mobs of people to find ABC Mart. Regardless of the fact that I really couldn't see the shoes due to all the people standing in front of them, I seemed to pin point some turquoise-colored ones out of the corner of my eyes. Reebok SimplyTone...hmmm...why not? 99,000W!!! Seriously!!! You've got to be kidding me! Last week I was in Bucheon with my coworker Seunghee and saw some shoes for 79,000W!! Of course I didn't want to shoe shop while other people were forced to do nothing else but watch, so I didn't stop and shop. The subway is ridiculous too... It takes 2 hours by subway and 30 minutes by car to get to Bucheon. It takes 1 1/2 hour by subway and (I guess) an hour or more by car to get to Myeong-dong. I didn't want to hustle back and forth between the two, or else I would have been shopping 'til midnight with most of my time spent riding the subway!

So back the Stooges... For those of you that don't know, this is how the subway is set up. There are four doors per car, and seven connected seats between each door on both sides of the train. Above each seat and in the aisle by the doors are handles for those who are standing. Well, lucky me. I got to sit right across from the three stooges. It was awkward, funny, and annoying all at the same time. I'm pretty sure they were drunk out of their minds....or at least from the way they were acting, I sure hope so! Three middle-aged men. One passed out at the end of the row of seats, one slumped over with his head between his legs on the other end of the row, and the other one was sitting up holding Mr. Slumpy tightly by his side, giving him a slap or two on the back every now and then. The lively one would yell things in Korean to the others. Or perhaps they were talking; I can never tell. It usually just sounds like yelling to me because they speak quite loudly. Eventually the passed out one would fall over and take up four seats, hanging his bare feet near the door (eww!!). The lively one would then yell at him, pushing him away, kicking him every now and then. Its as if this guy was the leader; in charge of getting these men home safely. He was in pretty bad shape himself though. The whole entire subway was full, but no one was sitting next to these guys.

Later a mom and her boy came on the subway and unknowingly sat next to Mr. passed out. Realizing what she had done, and not wishing to be a part of their closing act, the mom frantically searched for another seat. I happened to have a free seat on both my right and left, so I scooted over and motioned for them to sit there. She seemed quite grateful for the generosity too. Man...if I had my camera, I would have seriously been tempted to tape this and plaster it all over youtube. Ain't no telling how many hits that would get. So funny!! Their stop finally came, so Mr. lively picked up Mr. Slumpy and pushed Mr. Passed Out out the door. What a show!!

One and a half hour there, 30 minutes through the crowds, 15 minutes in the store, one and a half hour back, and home! No hard decisions about it!! I was on my own and couldn't ask anyone's opinion. It made me realize that traveling on my own, while it may be scary in unknown territory, is empowering.