As we were about to hit the road, Mike was going through his wallet and found the piece of paper with my phone number on it that prompted him to originally call me and invite me to come teach in Korea (with less than two days notice) after one of the teachers that was scheduled to come had backed out.
You sign up for a song and then when it's your turn to sing, the microphone cord can be slid down this guided-track type thingy to make sure it can reach any seat! It was incredible!
On the bus back to our hotel, we made a SHOCKING discovery! Remember how I mentioned earlier on that the bus had a sound-system with a synchronized light show? What we neglected to realize at the time, was that the bus also had a...
And the best part? You're on a bus and you have a CAPTIVE AUDIENCE! When you sing karaoke at a bar, you have to weigh what you want to sing against what the crowd is likely to tolerate. If you pick a horrible song, everyone will simply go outside and smoke until your song is over. But on a bus, there's no escape. So if you want to sing Believe by Cher (Yes Sean, I'm looking in your direction) there's nothing anybody can do but listen. Hahah.
After getting our classrooms all set up for the kids (who were arriving the next day) all the teachers boarded the bus again and we were driven 3 minutes to the hotel we'd be staying at for the next few weeks. (A real hotel this time!). Here's Mike Doyle handing out hotel room keys and laughing about...
On Sunday morning, we packed up all our stuff, bade farewell to the site of the first session of English Camp, and piled onto the bus to head to the site of the second session of camp.
The flight from San Francisco arrived, and when Micheal was at the baggage carousel about to grab his bag, I snuck up behind him and was like "Excuse me sir, I think that's my suitcase!" He turned around to explain that it was his, and then there was like a 10 second pause while his brain tried to reconcile seeing an unexpected friend that lives in New York standing at the baggage claim in Korea with him. He was like "Holy, coincidence! What the heck are YOU doing here?" I was like "I'm teaching English with you and Mike! Surprise!" Hahahah. Here's us on the bus, heading to our first camp.
So after years of interest, I finally managed to get accepted into one of the ten day programs to learn Vispassana Meditation. Vipassana is one of the oldest types of meditation and is taught in (free) 10-day courses throughout the world in centers that have been created by an Indian man named S.N. Goenka. If you're interested in learning a bit more about what Vipassana meditation is, you should check out this link.
The course was held in the town of Shelburne in Western Mass. Early, early Wednesday morning I hopped on a bus with a bunch of Saffron-robed monks and headed northeast.
I had to take a bus to a different terminal and laughed my ass off at this "wagen halt" button. It means "stop the bus," but my friend Alysha uses it to describe the cringey feeling you get when you watch someone else do something that makes you so embarrassed to be a fellow human that you have to leave the area. (This came up at an NHL match when after the 2nd period, they had an "entertainer" in a sparkly silver lycra unitard skate around on the ice and juggle.)
About halfway through the three and a half hour busride, we stopped at this cute little rest stop in the middle of Nowhere, TX. Here's the pic I snapped for posterity's sake.
The only thing that topped my sandwich was the fact that I got to sit behind fucking Lil' Richard for the entire trip. (Dude's wearing a silk kimono on the bus!)
A bus trip really ain't a bus trip unless you manage to enjoy a shoddy-ass microwave sandwich en route. Extra points if consumed beofre 7am. Mmmm...breakfast.
After sleeping less than 90 minutes, I got just shy of 5am and took a cab to the bus station. I had bought my return flight ticket out of Houston so I could visit Tara! I figured I'd be able to rent a car in Austin and drive there, but it turns out all the rental companies wanted to charge me an extra $300 DOLLARS for not returning the car to the city I'd rented it from. So intead I called around and found out I could get a one way Greyhound ticket for just $16 dollars!
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