Elevators: A Mind of Their Own

So this story is a little out of order but I wanted to share cause I think it's so funny. When Kayleigh and I first arrived, like literally got off the plane and found our recruiter, we headed straight to a hotel for the night. Mind you, we hadn't slept in about 30 hours at this point and we had to carry all our stuff around. I'm talking 150lbs of luggage each. Not an easy task. So we manage to clip our bags together and several of us new teachers are waiting at the elevator to go up to the 2nd floor. We can't all fit because there are about 6 teachers who all have multiple bags. So a few get on and Kayleigh and I wait with Alistair, (recruiter)for the next round.

Well, when the elevator comes back down, just getting all our luggage on the elevator requires a system. Apparently in Korea, they don't value safety quite as much and if you are standing in the doorway, you will be crushed. There is no sensor that says, Hey, don't close right now, there's a person there. So we awkwardly load up the elevator and take turns holding the doors open. Then we go up to level two and before we can even unload one bag, the door shuts in our faces. Alistair is the only thing that made it off and was the last friendly face we would see. So Kayleigh and I desparately try to open the door again but we're stuck behind our bags. So it takes off and we head to level 6. A couple Korean guys get on and look at us strangely, as do most people, and they go up to level 8. And so do we. We think surely this is our chance, we'll just hit 2 again and be in the clear. No, instead the elevator develops a mind of its own and we bypass level 2 and head back to the basement, where we just had come from.

The doors open wide and there are the other teachers we just left, who are trying to get on the elevator. The coordinator for the hotel that is helping all of us looks at us and says very kindly (but you know she's irritated) and motions, "Please, go. Please go up!". We smile and nod and under our breath say, we're trying! At this point, there is no stopping the hossy laughing that comes out of our beings. We hit 2 again and this time, Alistair is still waiting for us. We had devised a plan and managed to get all our stuff out before it closed in our faces. At one point, I had to push the doors open and felt a little like Samson. The very next day, same situation happens to me at the conference center and from there on out, I decided to take the steps. Did I mention that the next day we had to haul our luggage from the airport out to the bus, then off the bus up a giant hill and up 6 floors? And for those who saw my luggage before I left, you know it wasn't gonna make it. Wheels bending, insides cracking and it only managed to make it on a cloud of grace to my final destination. Now it's in a happy burial place, the local garbage dump. :)