Ajjeoshi's stair-climber.

It's been a while since I rode the subway. I've been driving a lot and have been wanting to write about my experiences driving in Seoul. But tonight I wanted to ride the subway. Nothing exciting happened on the way to dinner but on my way home I saw something that I just had to post here.

At the Yaksu station I was behind a few commuters getting on the escalator going down to the train platform. About one third of the way down people were moving over to the left of the escalator because an Ajjeoshi, about 55-60 years old, reversed himself and wanted to walk up the escalator. He was gaining ground and looked like he was going to make it back to the top. By the time I got off at the bottom of the escalator, Ajjeoshi was near the top and he started to slow down. I wanted to yell out to him, "Balli, balli." Das hurry, hurry in the vernacular. I walked two steps away from the escalator landing and thought to myself, "Self, what if he falls. I'd better be near to hit the emergency stop switch."

I went back to keep my eye on Ajjeoshi to make sure he was alright. But he was losing ground. He was getting tired and soon he wasn't making any progress up the "down" escalator. I couldn't help myself but laughed. Ajjeoshi finally gave in to his futile attempt in a battle with a machine. He decided it was best to go down the "down" escalator and go up the "up" escalator. I was still laughing when my train came, and I was still cracking up at the next stop just thinking about Ajjeoshi. The other passengers in the car must have thought I was mental...