This pension was located kind of in the middle of nowhere. To get there everyone had taken a bus and then a cab, but to go back we decided we were going to just take buses to save money. We waited at the bus stop for what seemed like forever and then got on the first bus that came by. That bus took us, after what seemed like a long time, to Wonju, the nearest town. More specifically, to Wonju train station. The craziest place in Korea.
Within the first 30 seconds all of these things happened after getting off at the train station.
1. Saw two girls who looked like prostitutes.
2. Saw a random man doing Tai Chi while wearing headphones. Might actually have just been someone doing weird dance moves by himself while wearing headphones. Not positive on this one.
3. Was shouted at by a short, old Korean man. He kept saying, "Hi! Hello! Hi!" all very loudly.
And that was just walking from the street to the entrance. A bit overwhelming.
Once we got in the train station, I was so shocked by what I had just witnessed that I had to go outside again and check that it was all real. It was real. It was so very real. I got some ice cream and then went back into the train station.
(This is just a side note here and has very little to do with the story, but if you had to paint a picture of me in Korea that represents my time here, it would be of me walking and eating on the street. It's kind of socially unacceptable for adults to do here and I am the only adult that I see doing it regularly. But I just like eating so I keep doing it. Pathetic.)
In the train station I found Rose being chatted up by a Korean guy. I introduced myself, ate my ice cream, and took yet another picture of Rose and a Korean. Since this is one of my favorite things to happen ever, I did not mind in the slightest.
After Rose's suitor left, the other foreigners and I sat and stood around talking and waiting for our train. But then, the man we had previously seen outside, the one who shouted "Hello!" to us, came up and started talking. Loudly. In Korean. He had a drawing with him and kept showing it to us but none of us could understand what he was going on about. The man kept shouting and coming closer and was really freaky but we all just kind of ignored it. Meanwhile, a really tall, younger Korean man was standing nearby and did nothing! He had previously been eavesdropping on our conversation and now just stood there while we were being harassed by a crazy man and then took a brief moment to take a photo of the crazy man's picture. This annoyed me. We were obviously in need of some assistance, this man obviously spoke English, and did nothing. That is rude. If you see a foreigner who needs help, help them. It's the kind thing to do.
Back to the story. The eavesdropper leaves and the crazy man stays. At this point I started to get a little worried because the little bit of buffer we had between us and this crazy was now gone. Then, just when I think things can't get any more awkward, the crazy man starts singing, just belting it, right there next to us in the train station. I couldn't help it, I started laughing. I just was so uncomfortable and had no idea what was happening and couldn't control myself! I tried to hold in my laughter but then it was so much that I started crying. The man continued to sing what sounded to me like an Italian love ballad, and then took off his jacket and threatened to fight Dr. Humphries (obviously not his real name, I don't use anyone's real name on this blog, and this is what he wants to be called). I continued to cry/laugh and eventually the man went away. We all moved into the next room so that we were surrounded by more Koreans, the man came in, said something to us, hit Dr. Humphries on the back, and went away. Luckily our train came and we left. Never to come back to Wonju again.
Want proof of our adventure? Here is a video that Dale took of the incident. It's not great quality but you can see me crying/laughing in the background.
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