Lost in Translation

So my overactive imagination thought it'd be brilliant to travel to Japan to see Harry Potter because I'm jealous of all of youses in the US who can go see it now. Clearly that was an overreaction and did not happen once I began to research costs and whatnot. *sigh* Guess I'll just have to patiently wait a month for it to come out... But apparently I don't need to leave the country for an outrageous adventure.

Anyway, Went to dinner tonight with some co-workers, had a drink with them and left early since I'm going hiking with my other co-worker in the a.m. Also wanted to make sure I got on the subway before it closed at midnight (terrible terrible idea on Seoul's part). Things were fine until I went to transfer and for whatever reason we weren't allowed to transfer. So now I'm stuck somewhere I don't know and the taxis kept passing me for Koreans.

Finally got into a cab, and told him Guui-dong, then Guui station to make sure he knew where I meant. Apparently not. After a good 45 minutes and 18000 won later, I'm in Ui-dong. Long story short, through much laughter, apologies, and phone calls to a translator (I love that one of their first comments is always 'I Love America!' when they ask where you're from), I finally made it to Guui station, not before I thought I was gonna die with the high speeds, or vomit with the constant stop-and-go mixed with the high speeds, or not have anywhere to sleep. I felt bad. He felt bad. It was a mess but I paid 20,000 won just to make sure I covered the new cost and as a way to apologize.

The translator called him to talk to me a few minutes before I got out to apologize for the driver and wish me a safe, fun stay in Korea. He also said he hoped this didn't scare me or I guess leave a bad impression. Wasn't scared, just worried that I was heading somewhere I didn't know.

My first case of lost in translation. Note to self: subway over taxi, unless traveling with others. Note to self 2: Find some time to learn #*$%&^ Korean.