Collecting Stories

I've had several mishaps recently... and it all chalks up for experience and laughter!

Bus Misadventure
My first day back to school, I accidentally got on the wrong bus (even though it was the correct bus #, I didn't know that you have to check the sign in front to make sure that it's not going back to the bus garage...oops). After five solid weeks of vacation, I had hoped to get to school extra early so that I would have time to make copies for my lesson before seeing all of the teachers again during our Monday morning meeting (I had been asked to give a brief greeting upon my return to school). In effort to avoid being late, I had even practiced going to school the week before, but apparently failed to practice both of the bus numbers that I can take! Fortunately, my co-teacher helped me out when I called her somewhat frantically from the bus garage. The vice principal and principal were both understanding and laughed it off when I finally arrived to school (which I was quite thankful for)!

Sae Tahk! Sae Tahk!
During my first week of living in my new apartment, I was somewhat startled in the morning when I heard a woman calling through the halls, Sae tahk! Sae tahk! I was somewhat annoyed and a little concerned. Could it be that she was calling out to her ancestors (or maybe even other spirits) through our hallways? As time has gone on, I've noticed that this woman walks through the halls every morning, calling out Sae tahk! Sae tahk!

Curiosity finally got the best of me and one day, I approached the woman and asked her (in my incredibly broken Korean and hand gestures) what she was saying. She pointed to her clothes and said, oht. I knew she was talking about clothes and assumed that she was trying to sell clothes in our apartment building. My thoughts were, Really?! At 7:30 in the morning?

I relayed my experience to my co-teachers at school. They started laughing and told me that the woman wasn't selling clothes, but collecting clothes for dry-cleaning/laundry! Apparently it's quite common for this to happen in most apartments here in Korea. One of my co-teachers even made a copy of a few pages from one of his cultural English books about Sae Tahk. He left a few extra books with me so that I would be more informed about Korean culture. I couldn't help but chuckle through it all. Another one of those stories...

Stove
This past Saturday morning, I decided I wanted to make an egg for breakfast. It seemed simple enough. However, lighting the gas turned out to be quite a challenge. After over twenty attempts (I wish that was an exaggeration), I gave up and decided to just push down on the gas while trying to light the burner and cook my egg over the heat since I couldn't get the burner to stay on. It was quite a frustrating experience!

Upon discussing this problem with my parents, my dad cautioned me to get it checked out (which I was planning on doing) and told me that I could have caused an explosion with the way I decided to try to cook my egg. Oops...

So, on Monday, the maintenance man came to check out the problem. He walked over to my stove and turned it on - with absolutely no problem! I was so confused... and embarrassed. Apparently, I just didn't have the timing down correctly for when to push down on the burner and when to let it up, etc. Definitely felt like the classic stupid foreigner. The ajahshi (older man) was gracious enough and told my co-teacher that if I have any other problems to let him know.

I'm pleased to report that I successfully made spaghetti on my stove that very night. Yes (Dad), humble pie was on the menu as well.

Wondering what story I will be adding to my collection next...lol!