Templestay 7 (The Grand Finale)

Probably my favorite part of the whole weekend was my bus ride back to Seoul.  I shared the experience with the four amigos from San Francisco.  And it was quite a trek!  There was a marathon on the island that weekend, so traffic was a bit heavy.  When our bus finally showed up, it was JAM PACKED.  As in, I was the last person on, and I barely made it!The poor old man behind me, who had just participated in the marathon, didn't make the cut.  He had to wait another hour or so until the next bus came.  As I said, I made it on, but I definitely didn't get a seat.  Ora  spot in the aisle, for that matter.  No, I was standing on the bottom step, just inside the door of hte bus.  My Bay Area friends and I were just hoping that the door wouldn't swing open en route.  Amidst all the bumps and sways of the bus ride (and there were a lot1) we had some pretty awesome conversations.  Sometimes you just really click with, and feel inspired by, people.  This was one of those times for me. 

Finally, about 30 or 45 minutes into our nearly two hour ride, the bus came to a stop to let a handful of people off.  Four people, out of about a hundred.  Ok, maybe not a hundred.  But, then again, maybe...  Anyway, the bus driver was motioning something towards me.  I interpreted it as, "Don't get off - people will try to get on and steal your spot!"  So I buckled down and didn't budge.  He urgently motioned at me, so I stood steadfast.  Right.  And then I realized that I had misinterpreted him.  You see, as he opened the bus door, it accordion-folded onto me.  I was no match for the door.  Bus doors are surprisingly strong!  As it opened, it slid me across the step and smashed me right up against the front windshield.  Brilliant.  It didn't hurt, but I was definitely trapped.  Arms pinned to my side.  I just kind of had to laugh.  There was nothing else I could do.

As I said, only about four people got off, so we still had another 20 minutes or so until the next stop, where enough people got off that we could stand in the aisle.  There we stood until it cleared out enough that we could actually sit down for the last 20 or so minutes of the ride.