I wouldn’t exactly call myself dumb, but why it took me more than a few days to successfully navigate a bus trip in SoKo, I have no idea.

It all started last week when I was supposed to meet Jenn at her school via the 5500 bus north from practically one block from the apartment.  Instead of being there early, I arrived a little late because I missed the stop.  I should point out that the stop I missed is the second to last stop south of the Han River and into Seoul proper.  So it was another 25 minutes up the road, over the river, out of the bus at the first stop, across the street, waiting for 20 minutes and then back down to where I should have been.  Except in my haste, I got off one stop ahead of where I should have been.  Perfect.  I did what any other person would have done in my position, knowing exactly how far away I was from the school and the fact that a walk up a big hill was coming.  I hailed a cab to take me 5 minutes away (10 via walking).

I’m not ashamed to admit it.  The SoKo public transit system almost had me beat.  A few other mishaps occurred since then but finally, with Jennifer’s help, we managed to have a perfect experience coming back from Cafe Street to Samick.

Being without WiFi has now become crippling.  Once we get our ARCs (Alien Registration Cards) and are able to get our mobile phone plans set up, everything will be better.  That’s if my old carrier in Cayman is finally able to do what they said they’d do with the CI$500 I paid them for my unlock.

But I’ll save that story for another time, when it’s hopefully resolved.