Learned a new bus route today: No. 12, chwasok (one of the nice seat buses that costs more). Serious luxury ride. The nearest stop is at least a mile from our apartment, taking about 20 to 25 minutes to walk there. The weather was nice today and I was excited to ride a new bus, so I didn't mind walking. I may in the future, however; I can see the trek getting old fast.

I got to walk along the North side of the big city block of construction that's just East of the block where we live. You know, the big tall towering skeletons. (Usually, on the trail, I'm walking on the South side of that block.) There was a big long line of cement trucks waiting to dump their loads at one of the sites and I realized that one company, at least, is continuing on with the construction despite the depression.

I had a choice of walking on the North or South side of the road that runs along the North side of the block, and decided to stay South because even though the South side is totally under construction, on the North side old apartment buildings were being demolished and there were debris flying everywhere. There were debris from the construction too, but not as much it seemed. The sidewalk hugs the construction boundary and there is no protection from falling building materials. It's a risk, as usual. High up on one of the girders someone was employing one heck of a welding tool that sent wide bright showers of sparks falling about 10 stories. At night, from our deck facing East, we can see the welders working in the distance, the sparks like fireworks. The movement of all that busy building was just a little too close to the street for me to feel really safe. The buildings seemed to be pressing down on me with their height and bulky steel frames. All those cranes extending out in every direction was no comfort either.

Still, the alternative was the demolition site across the street that was releasing all kinds of chunks and particles into the strong winds that characterized this Spring Day. A big crane was whacking a wrecking ball against the concrete apt building while some guy, standing 50 feet away from the big ball on the same floor that was being demolished, attempted to hose off the dislodged chunks before they sailed away in a gust of wind: an exercise in futility.

That was some gauntlet for a contact-wearing person like me.

The bus came immediately and I was on, listening at first to Cause&Effect and later to James. The bus toured areas I usually have to catch a cab to get to, and I was happy to finally know of a bus that would take me there instead.

Just before one of the many tunnels under Nam mountain heading intodowntown area, our bus was stopped by Police who gave our driver a ticket. Totally unbelievable! I never would've thought buses - the kings of the road - could ever get nailed. Thing was, this bus driver was relatively gentle compared to most and I have no idea why we were pulled over. There were 4 or 5 motorcycle cops pointing arbitrarily at passing cars (and buses) to pull off. All the cops were doing their best Erik Estrada impersonations: white helmets, tight pants, leather jacket, mirrored sunglasses. It was funny. Our bus driver, smiling from embarrassment, tried to talk himself out of a ticket. Other drivers could be seen pointing, talking, all trying to explain why they had to switch lanes illegally or why they had to drive so fast. The cops held stern looks regardless, not even looking up to acknowledge the shallow attempts at justification.

It was an hour and a half between the time I left my house and the time I got to Ewha. That's one full hour on the bus. Whew! Lessee, that's 3 hours travel for 2 hours at the Women's Center.