The Saga of the Cellphone

Arriving at Alex's last night for French Club, I reached automatically to my back pocket to grab my cellphone before I sat down... and my lovely lovely hand-eu-pone was GONE. Thinking I'd lost it on the walk up to Alex's place, I called it from Monique's phone, then went wandering outside to see if I could hear it ring.

After about 20 rings, it was answered by a woman who spoke as much English as I speak Korean. She explained that the phone was on the bus, as I tried to explain to her that I was a teacher at suchandsuch a school and could she get it back to me somehow???

Running back inside, I grabbed Alex (his Korean is way better than mine)... eventually, he found a solution and told me to wait at the bus stop near my school the next morning at 8:30am. And so, this morning, I stood by the bus stop for what felt like ages. Finally, a bus came, and I asked the perplexed driver to give me a cellphone.

And the bus driver looked at me like I was on crack, while I stepped back, stammering and embarrassed....

I headed to school, thinking as I walked that a) the phone had been free, thanks to Stu's generosity and b) I wasn't sad about the phone, but about losing all my friends' phone numbers....

I got to school, and announced to a very sympathetic audience of all my co-teachers that I had lost my phone. Mr Park, who I love, suggested calling the phone again, which another teacher did for me. The lady who had found my phone was a block away from the school - I ran out and met her - and she handed back my phone.

It's only now as I type this that I've figured out exactly what must have happened - the woman who found my phone, the woman who returned it to me, this lovely person who went out of her way to deliver my phone to me... she was the lady who was driving my bus last night!

So, yeah... another "I love Korea" moment....