I have to start by saying that I am so thankful I am alive to tell you all about my life-changing, traumatic, near-death moment I experienced this evening.
Every Wednesday night, Christine and I attend a church service at Mosaic coffee shop a few subway stops away. We left work at about 6:30pm like usual, but unlike most nights we had to run a few errands before getting on the bus to the subway station. We were racing around because we did not want to be late.
Side note: in order to fully grasp the intensity of this story- you need to understand a few rules in Korea. First, pedestrians do NOT-let me repeat-DO NOT have the right of way. Second, red lights are mere suggestions. Cars stop if they want, but apparently they don't always have to or sometimes they stop and then go-similar to a stop sign in the U.S. (those do not exist here). You have to be very cautious crossing roads: even in a crosswalk.
We were really in a rush and we tried to j-walk across a very busy road because we knew that if we walked all the way down to the crosswalk and waited for the light- we would miss our bus and be very late for church. So...without thinking we ran out in to the middle of the road and we got stopped. We thought we were going to be able to make it all the way across- but boy were we wrong. We got stuck in the middle of the road with no median to stand on. Christine made a split second decision to run back to the side we came from- and my one second hesitation kept me from doing the same. As my heart started to race, realizing I was now in this mess alone, a city bus started coming straight at me and I had nowhere to go. I took one step to the side, heard a very loud car honk, and quickly realized I had stepped into oncoming traffic. I literally had no where to go. If I took one step to my right- I would have gotten hit head on by a bus. If I took one step to my left I would have gotten hit by a car going the other direction. I froze. The bus slowed down a little- and as it drove by me the side of the bus grazed the back of my sweatshirt. No joke. All I could do was stand as still as possible. The minute the bus passed me- a little Korean boy (maybe 9 years old) ran half way out in to the street in a panic waving his hands at me to run across. If he wouldn't have been there, I don't think I would have had the courage to do it as I was in complete shock. When I got safely across the road I had tears in my eyes and I thanked the little boy a million times as he was breathing as heavily as I was. It was pure grace.
Now- you may not feel like this is that big of a deal. And it probably wasn't. :) But in the moment, it was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had in my life. I just thought I needed to share this story with all of you:) After almost 6 months of living in Korea, I was not surprised at all by the fact that of all the people walking on that road- only one small 9 year old boy tried to help me. The children here are truly incredible.
In the end, it would have been much faster for Christine and I to walk to the crosswalk and wait for the light. We ended up making it to church in plenty of time, and you better believe I was thanking God for my life:)
I hope everyone is having a very good week:)
Love,
Shauna
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