sNOw days

Emphasis on the “no”.  Snow days just flat out don’t exist here.  But I can honestly say, I’ve never felt more endangered than on the streets of South Korea follow a light dusting the night before.

I can count 3 days when school should have clearly shut down, or at least been delayed, but no, no we must come to school.  Not to mention that 2 of these days came during winter break while no children were here.  Thank you Gyeonggi-do public education system for putting my life in danger for no one.

Shoulda been snow day 1:  Bus breaks down on the way to school and we have to wait for another, less dated bus to pick us and trudge through the snow.  Late to school.

Shoulda been snow day 2:  GEPIK cultural conference during winter break.  Whilst not teaching classes, GEPIK organized a cultural learning day, that in actually was quite stimulating and interesting.  But scheduling this conference in the middle of the winter off narrow side roads in a small, country village was not exactly brilliant on their behalf.

Well of course it snows the night before and that day.  And of course taking a bus isn’t an option, because as this conference is in the middle of a country village, only 1 bus leaves every hour, so likelihood of making the bus- slim to none.  So of course my adorable, mother-like co-teacher is obligated to drive us, despite her apprehension of driving in the snow.

I mean honestly, how hard could it be?  I’ve driven in muchhh worse conditions.  Well now I understand her fright, as I think it’s safe to say snow driving isn’t her strong point.

After getting lost and doing loops through one-way, single lane, narrow country roads we finally meet another conference goer, who knows where she’s going.  Whew.  Well a dead end and two cars facing the wrong direction later, we realized, she thought she knew where she was going.  In fear of backing up, my co-teacher carefully pulls a 10-point turn, while I pray that we don’t fall into the 15 foot ditch to our left and our right.

With the conference building in site and the worst behind us my heart rate drops and my breathing calms- we’re actually going to make it there alive.  Screech.  Hmm that sounds like the bottom of the car scratching the ice-paved roads, and why is the car tilted?  Well maybe because just drove off the road.

Getting out of the car and evaluating the situation, we realize there’s one way out, but a strong possibility of my co-teacher’s car driving straight off to the left and into the stream 25 feet below.  Obviously not confident with her driving skills, we opt to walk the rest of the way to the conference, until a nice gentleman stops and offers to drive the car while we push.

Now imagine this: three small women, none over the height of 5’5” or the weight of 130lbs pushing a car while a burly man sits in the car and steers.  God knows I didn’t want to be in that car though.  I nearly had a heart attack as Bianca’s car came 1 inch (literally no exaggeration there) from tipping into the brook.  Good Lord, thank you for watching over me on that shoulda been snow day.

Shoulda been snow day 3:  Not as exhilarating as the last, but after sitting on the 2-2 bus for an hour (a typically 15 minute ride), I’ve decided that Koreans just flat out don’t know how to drive in the snow, so snow days should be warranted.  Oh well, I was an hour and a half late for work and no one could complain.  Not. My. Fault.

Just invent snow days, please, Korea!