Seoul, 2012

Five centimeters.

That’s the maximum distance I can shift to my right or left before I get yelled at for invading another squished commuter’s personal space.  A few years ago, I wouldn't have even considered hopping onto a bus with half as many people as this. Now, after being a trainee for so long, if the bus isn’t sagging too much, I consider this number of people to be perfectly acceptable. 

I suppose that’s what living in the city does to you. Unlike the small, surburban neighborhood I was born in, here, you have to adapt and consider that the 1 million other people living in this part of Seoul alone also have places to be at this time of day.  

It’s currently 7:10 AM.  Practice for me starts at 7:35.  I am currently 3 stops away from where I need to get off.  There’s about 7 minutes of driving time in between each stop, but it takes about 2 minutes for people to squeeze through everyone on board while fighting those trying to get on.  In 3 stops, more people get on than usual, so that would increase my exiting time by at least a minute. It would only take about a minute to sprint to the studio.  ETA would be about 7:38AM.  3 minutes too late. 

So new plan: I get off one stop before hand and book it down to the studio. ETA 7:34AM. 7:33AM if I really try. 

Granted, I don’t really need to be there by 7:35 AM. It’s not a mandatory practice, but Hoseok’s been lecturing me about being prompt for the past week, and