Not The Adventure I Was Looking For

There have been many adventures for me here in Korea, and I am sure there will be many more to come. Some have been very interesting and fun and others quite the opposite. This one was quite the opposite.

I stood at my bus stop at 1 p.m. waiting glumly to go to work. My bus arrived pretty quickly, and I was on my way (A quick aside about buses--as soon as you step on the the door closes and the bus is off, quickly, whether you are seated or not!). This being the case, I quickly sat down so that I would not fall. I eventually got to my stop and got off the bus quickly. As soon as the door opens at your stop, you have approximately 2 to 3 seconds to get off, or else! I am off the bus now and making my way to work. I get to the restaurant downstairs from my academy and enjoy my favorite meal. After I finished I decided to get a coffee from the 7-11 next door. So I went for my wallet and......it sure as hell was not there. Do you want to talk about panic? I immediately knew what happened. Upon getting on the bus and swiping my bus card, I got to a seat quickly to avoid being flung to the back. I took the nearest seat and sat without placing my wallet back in my pants. I then put it between my legs where I forgot about it. When I made my quick move off the bus, my wallet fell to the floor.

There I was shocked and in a panic. I ran to the bus stop as I still had an hour before work. I figured that the bus would make the round and eventually I would be able to stop the bus. Hopefully, some good samaritan passed it to the bus driver. I get to the bus stop and about fifty yards away, at a bus stop, is my bus. I sprint towards it; the light turns green, and I miss getting my wallet back by 10 steps. I wait the rest of the hour and no bus. So, I go back to work and have the secretary call the bus company and try to track it down. I go into the office next to her desk and call Wamu, my bank, to cancel my credit card and debit card. The second I tell the lady on the phone to cancel my card, the secretary comes in and says in broken English, "They find wallet, no money, but they have all cards."(I told her the contents before she called the bus company.) So I cancelled my debit card. Now I cannot get into my bank account whatsoever. The man upstairs is surely getting a laugh at my expense. It couldn't have been written any better. I cancelled my card for no reason!

To make a long story short, I meet up with the bus driver and get my wallet back. 50,000 gone (about 37 dollars). But now I have no money and no way of getting more!

KICKS ASS: It's cheap to live here. I had 50,000 I kept at my apt. and can live on that for a week until I get my Korean account and first month's pay.

SUCKS ASS: You just don't think about how a little bump in the road in the states, like losing your wallet, can be a total cotastrophe anywhere else.

(Did Not Proofread)