Stranded

Last weekend I got to visit Yeosu again for the first time in a few weeks. I was hoping to have an exciting weekend, but I got a little more than I bargained for.

The teachers and I set out on Friday afternoon for the ferry terminal. Friday was good because it meant that we would have more time to stay out and go shopping or eat at nice restaurants. The first thing that I wanted to do was get a new SIM card for my phone, and one of the teachers kindly offered to give me a ride to the city with her family when we arrived. I spent some time in the car talking to her in Korean and I felt like I did a good job of keeping the conversation going. She even helped me find a motel and get a discount there, because I guess she knew the owner.

On Saturday morning, the first thing I did was go to the hospital. My motel was close to the hospital, so even with an injured leg I made it there without much trouble. The hospital was huge! Around the waiting room were a dozen glass rooms where the doctors were situated with their patients. I had two men who spoke English help me, and they determined that my leg was suffering from arthritis. When we looked at it in an x-ray, you could actually see a buildup up liquid inside, which must have been what was causing the pain. Strangely, there was no swelling, though. They gave me a steroid shot in the knee, told me to take some medicine, and that it would be better in a few days. They also told me I could do some light exercise, which was great because I really wanted to walk around and see the city.

After that, I met up with some friends and we raided the nearby bakery for sweets. As always, it's nice to see native English speakers that I can talk with comfortably. Once we were done with our coffee and snacks we headed to the beach to get dinner. We ended up walking around Yeosu and discovered what a beautiful city it is. At night, the city lights up in neon. You can't really capture it on camera; it's something that you have to see in-person. Although my leg was stiff and sore from the steroid shot, I loved walking around in that atmosphere. There's so many unique and interesting restaurants, I want to come back here every weekend, or even live here next year if I continue my EPIK contract.

On Sunday, I was all set to leave so I arrived at the Yeosu terminal early. None of the other teachers were there. That's fine, I knew I was early. But after 30 minutes had passed I started to get worried, so I texted one of my co-teachers (thankfully I had a phone that could do that now!). She told me that the ferry had been cancelled because someone got COVID on the boat, so there would be no return trip today. Also, the return trip would be in Goheung, about an hour's drive away from Yeosu. I was shocked at first, but I quickly made plans to meet up with a friend in Suncheon (which was on the way) and stay at their place for the time being. Motels can add up.

We had a nice time together in Suncheon. This is another city I was considering moving to. There is a beautiful lake, and the city is really big, so you get a good mix of urban and more rural areas. I got to try the infamous McDonald's bulgogi and egg burger while I was there too.

Unfortunately, I didn't plan my trip quite right and I ended up having a hard time getting back to the ferry terminal. I left in the evening and in the rain for a bus to show up but it didn't arrive for almost 40 minutes. When I finally got to the transfer station, there were no more buses running, so I found another motel to spend the night. The place I stayed was probably the seediest motel I've ever been to. It was dirty, dimly lit, there were bugs in the room... but at least it was a place to sleep and get out of the rain. I had to wake up early to get to the ferry and since there were still no buses running at this hour, I paid a hefty price for a taxi the rest of the way there. The driver seemed happy.

Well, we all made it to the ferry in one piece, and everyone was exhausted from waking up early and stressing about getting back to the terminal, so we all fell asleep on the boat. When we got back to the island, all that was left was to get right back to work. We'd already missed Monday so it wouldn't be good for us to take another day off to rest. I felt bad for the 3 teachers who had to hold the fort while we were gone. I'm sure they must have been stressed out taking care of all the kids in our absence. At least my exhaustion was from staying up late with my friends during my extra-long trip.

It was a fun (if expensive) weekend, and I'm glad that things worked out in the end. My leg has been doing a lot better and I went for a short hike yesterday, where it barely hurt at all. Hopefully I can go back to Yeosu again soon, but this time I hope that I don't overstay my welcome.