-i ride the subway a minimum of 2 hours a day now, so so far i've had some interesting encounters....-
--the grass lady---one evening, this lady walked on the subway with a huge enormous bundle of grass that literally touched the ceiling of the subway car. i say it was a lady just because of (her) hands and feet, I never actually saw (her) face. i'm in a foreign country, so i'm fairly used to the weirdos, but (she) still sticks in my mind. where was she going with a bundle of grass? why?
--the jesus man---ok, so i know you can encounter these guys in america too, but this guy was really into it. his cross was HUGE and it had 'love' written in all these languages on it, ( you know, just in case you didn't know the cross story...) he was dressed all in red. and he was going down the subway car preaching to us.i say preaching but it was more like shrieking and chanting mixed up... i tried to look like i was already full of the holy spirit....
--mister korea---so, there isn't a huge selection of english books here and i do the best with what i get. i recently bought "the best american essays of 2008" at a local bookstore, and was reading a freakishly random yet interesting essay on hitler's mustache. being all brown hair and blue-eyed and all...i've been rather lucky to avoid the anti-americans, but once in awhile i get 'em. so..i'm intently reading my essay book (i mean, its about the fuhrer's trademark facial hair, it was intenssse) and i see this pair of legs thrust themselves in front of me. ohh no... i'm thinking. this can't be good. "title!!" comes this rough old voice in broken english. i ignore it..."Title!!" he goes again. I look up with the biggest smile "Hey..." In my head i'm thinking, shit, it says the a-word on the cover, whyyyy oh whyyy does it say the a-word?? "book title!!" he demands again. so with my smile still glued to my face i turn my book over and wait for the screams...he reads loudly "best american....no no!!! korea is best! korea number one". i gulp..."sir...its not even about america really....its kinda about the nazis right now..." but he was already gone. why cant we all be friends...
--the squirmy guy---so you know when there's one seat available and two people walk on and its awkward for like half a second and then someone automatically gives it up. well....unless one of you is 90 years old, not in korea. its sit or be sat upon round here. literally. i walk on and so does this 20something guy. we see the seat, i don't go for it and neither does he, so i take a step forward and so does he, i avoid it and then he does, i go for it and then he does.......this went on for a good 3 seconds. then i went for it at the same time as he did and for some reason didn't see him sit down or something...and ended up on his lap. ya. not cool. needless to say i got out of that car faast.
--the salesmanly-man---leggings are allllll the rage right now. miniskirts and leggings, shorts and leggings, shirts and leggings,blah blahh. and its not enough that they have a ready supply of every color and texture available everywhere, the salespeople actually come onto the train to sell them. now, leggings are generally worn primarily if not exclusively by women and ballerina-men right? wrong. imagine my surprise when the 60-year-old salesman lifted up his pant leg...ever so slightly...to reveal that he too wore them underneath it all. i don't know how he sold anything that way....
--the squatting lady---sometimes the car is so packed that you cant move. i detest this so so much and during rush hour i always try to get on either at the very front or the very back of the train so that i can have a wall to lean on. well, i made a friend one day. usually the old ladies are grumpy grumpy grumpy but this one had one of those contagious smiles, and a twinkle in her eye. she looked at me mischievously and slowly slid her back down the wall until she was sitting on the floor, she then took some newspaper that was on the ground and spread it out for me, so i (obediently, of course) followed suit. she must have been so old but she still had that spark in her. she gave me some ginseng (ew) candy and teared up when i called her beautiful. we got off at the same stop and i walked her up to the elevator. she pumped my hand up and down with all her strength when we said bye, and i think she was the most beautiful thing i've seen since. after all, what is beauty without a smile and a twinkle in its eye?
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