Friday 18 September 2009

Bus Tickets and Gifts

For the first couple of weeks, my co-teachers were really helpful with the purchasing of bus tickets. They even showed me where to stand, occasionally waited with me until the bus arrived, and showed me how to read the directional city names displayed on front of the buses. But lately, I’ve insisted that they don’t wait with me (they are incredibly busy), and that they let me buy my own tickets.


Today, I walked over to the ticket counter, alone, and asked for 10 tickets to Andeok. The lady smiled at me, nodded in understanding, and began counting them out. I then asked how much it was, and before she could write it down, I pulled out my wallet and handed her the exact change. She just stared at me, smiled even wider, and beckoned me to sit down on the bench and wait. She disappeared into the ticket building (which I assume is her house), and returned a few minutes later with a bag. Before I could say anything, she opened it up and placed it on my lap. It was filled to the top with apples and yams. I thanked her repeatedly, boarded the bus, and brought the fruits of my labour home.


- Ken

2 comments:

  1. Christine(Jess's mom)19 October 2009 at 07:33

    Oh~ Ken, How nice they are in the town to you guys... I'm happy for you... with endless apples... when I see you back in Canada, I won't treat you with an apple pie :)

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  2. Apples? Wow- that's sooooo thoughtful! Actually -it's so nice the way they think of thanking you guys all the time. So when apple season is over (and it MUST be soon...), do they give you bags of rice?

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