First Shopping Trip Alone - Story

So I headed from the main building down to the two buses.  I walked up to the second one and talked to some happy students.  They directed me to the bus driver when I asked where to pay.  He asked where I wanted to go.  I said E Mart.  He said... other bus.

So to the other bus I went.  Sat.  The driver was looked over, "E Mart?"  Yes...  A few minutes later the bus driver came back into the bus, looked at me again, and handed me an orange.  Since I was missing supper to catch this bus, I was happy for it.  A student showed me where to put the orange peels.

We got underway.  A freshman girl who had been told to make sure I got off at E Mart came and sat with me for a few minutes.  We talked and then she went back to her seat.

Behind me was three boys.  Two sitting and one standing.  The standing one is a student of mine.  They kept saying English curse words: hell and shit.  I rolled my eyes.  Yes, those are English words.  I know what they mean.  Not impressed.  Soon they started saying my name and another English teacher's name.  I got it now, they were hoping to indirectly get my attention and talk to me.  I obliged.

The one standing said the other two were mean.  He goofed around and such.  Then one of the sitting boys said the standing boy was in love with me.  Cute.  I have no doubt it is true.  I pulled the naive female act... my best defense.  The standing boy of course immediately said, "Not true, not true!"  I nodded with him and added, "He couldn't.  Too big an age difference."  The standing boy quickly agreed.  Agreed too much.  Lovely... a student has a crush on me.

One of the sitting students asked if he could sit next to me.  I quickly agreed and pointed out he had been standing a long time.  He sat and we talked a bit.  Again, me playing happy and oblivious female.  At one point he mentioned that at E Mart the carts are locked together.  You needed a 100 won coin to get a cart.  He started to reach for his back pocket.  I knodded and said yep... one of the teachers had taken me to E Mart and showed me how to buy things there.  He quickly pulled his hand back.  I added that this trip was to see if I had learned to travel by myself.

Evidently the whole bus knew that already.  It was cute.  I enjoyed being near the students and seeing a part of their daily routine outside the cafe.  And for awhile there, I felt more child and less adult.  I'm so ignorant in their culture it isn't hard.