"I'll help you carry on, for it won't be long 'til I'm gonna need somebody to lean on."
Lean On Me by Bill Withers
It was about 5:30 PM on an early Wednesday evening when I had arrived at the subway station. I was late for a dinner at Outback Steak House (God knows steak dinners are serious business), so I made an exceptional attempt to race to the platform to catch the next subway. And, as always, I had just missed it by a mere 20 seconds (or minutes...I'm no Michael Johnson). Defeated and tired, I slumped down the escalator knowing I'd have to wait about 5 minutes for the next one to arrive. The passengers that had just gotten off the subway were now ascending as I was descending, giving me ample time to judge these characters based merely on looks.
Old Korean woman carrying 100 pounds of vegetables on her head: Shitty grandchildren.
Businessman with a loosened tie and bloodshot eyes: Dinner better be ready.
High School Girl texting on two phones while talking obnoxiously on another: Daddy issues.
College Student with a half shaved haircut, 8 facial piercings, and a tattoo of a dragon on his neck: Has a cat named MewTwo.
And my favorite - old Korean man (late 60's I'm thinking) in full hiking attire carrying a mountain bike up the escalator: Just did a line of cocaine in the bathroom.
As I reach the bottom of the platform, I see an older Korean woman looking past me with a horrified look on her face. She then starts to shriek and pointing up the escalator. I turned around and I spot the old Korean man stumbling violently down the escalator with his bike on top of him. I debate for a few seconds if I should help him, because I'm but a mere 150 pounds (that's with my shoes off) and I estimated him to be about 800 pounds and took into consideration that he had potentially liberated poop from his butt. I ran up the escalator anyway, because if there's anything I learned from Christian school and the last episode of Seinfeld, it's to help thy neighbor.
As I tried to help him up, it was then that I realized why he had taken a stumble. The familiar smell of soju (it's like Korean vodka) made me grow chest hairs. You dumb guy. Sympathy turned to intolerance as I tried to get the guy on his feet before the escalator shredded him. The guy sort of just gave me a drunken stare. I grew impatient. "Iroso!" said I, a command for Stand up! At some point, one of the workers eventually stopped the escalator, which then enabled me to get the idiot on his feet again. As we both started walking up (me carrying his dirty bike), the subway workers started yelling at him. They all looked at me and asked something something harabeoji, which I roughly translated as to whether he was my grandfather.
The subway employees thanked me and had to force the drunk old guy to thank me also (he was actually more concerned about his sunglasses than his welfare).
I should've pushed him back down.
Old Korean woman carrying 100 pounds of vegetables on her head: Shitty grandchildren.
Businessman with a loosened tie and bloodshot eyes: Dinner better be ready.
High School Girl texting on two phones while talking obnoxiously on another: Daddy issues.
College Student with a half shaved haircut, 8 facial piercings, and a tattoo of a dragon on his neck: Has a cat named MewTwo.
And my favorite - old Korean man (late 60's I'm thinking) in full hiking attire carrying a mountain bike up the escalator: Just did a line of cocaine in the bathroom.
As I reach the bottom of the platform, I see an older Korean woman looking past me with a horrified look on her face. She then starts to shriek and pointing up the escalator. I turned around and I spot the old Korean man stumbling violently down the escalator with his bike on top of him. I debate for a few seconds if I should help him, because I'm but a mere 150 pounds (that's with my shoes off) and I estimated him to be about 800 pounds and took into consideration that he had potentially liberated poop from his butt. I ran up the escalator anyway, because if there's anything I learned from Christian school and the last episode of Seinfeld, it's to help thy neighbor.
As I tried to help him up, it was then that I realized why he had taken a stumble. The familiar smell of soju (it's like Korean vodka) made me grow chest hairs. You dumb guy. Sympathy turned to intolerance as I tried to get the guy on his feet before the escalator shredded him. The guy sort of just gave me a drunken stare. I grew impatient. "Iroso!" said I, a command for Stand up! At some point, one of the workers eventually stopped the escalator, which then enabled me to get the idiot on his feet again. As we both started walking up (me carrying his dirty bike), the subway workers started yelling at him. They all looked at me and asked something something harabeoji, which I roughly translated as to whether he was my grandfather.
The subway employees thanked me and had to force the drunk old guy to thank me also (he was actually more concerned about his sunglasses than his welfare).
I should've pushed him back down.
This blog post is also thanks to Ms. Devon, who reminded me that I've let a month pass without updating this blog. I've just been a bit preoccupied with various things and haven't gotten around to writing much. I'll try to avoid the whole 1 month gap hiatus now that the semester is over and it's far too hot to take random train trips around Korea.
Until next time.
Anyeong.
2 comments:
I thought that was going to be a heart-warming tale of samaritanism, and then I read the story. Haha.
Is that building really that bright a blue or did you photoshop it? Because I'm all for bright colours, but that's almost eye-searing. Hahaha.
And I totally forgot you'd been a bit sick, or I wouldn't have harassed you. (As much.)
The building is really bright blue. You should see the bright red ones. It's like redruuuum.
Post a Comment