Issues with getting home from school…

[miwon]

work in a rural town about 40 minutes’ drive from the city. I come to school by bus and for my first month here went home with my Co Teacher in his car. He can not take me home any more and told me that I should now use the bus. I do not mind the bus ride, but because I am so rural I have to wait 40 min for the bus… This means that I get home at around 6:40!

I know that the Korean Language teacher lives close to my house and I’ve asked him for a lift a few times. He is really friendly, but does not speak to much English. I do not want to be a burden on him, so I’m not sure if I should rather wait for the bus or if I should ask him for a lift on the days that I’m at this school…

I know that the obvious response would be to tell me to speak to my co teachers and ask them – I would love to do that, but the language barrier is just too big! What should I do? Use the bus or ask to ride with the teacher until one day he says ‘sorry, you can not get a lift from me again’?

[last.chapter]

Does your school offer a school bus for the students before and after school? I am able to ride with the students into town afterschool, otherwise it's a hour between buses. Perhaps they can offer you a transportation allowance and you could taxi it?

It sounds like you will have to catch the bus eventually though....

[dabrot791]

If you can speak some korean or the korean language teacher expresses interest in learning about you, then it wouldn't hurt to ride with him every now and then. perhaps offer to pitch in some for the gas.  Otherwise, if the language barrier is just simply too big, i suggest a good book for the wait at the bus stop.

[korr]

If you're at a middle school or high school, there might be some kind of shuttle bus for the students. It may not be the most convenient thing, but it will probably be faster than waiting for the regular bus. If you know enough Korean to check, you can probably find a shuttle bus schedule posted in the announcements on your school's website. Look for 버스 시간표 or something similar.

[justanotherwaygook]

Could you convince your school to give you a travel allowance for cabs?  I know travel allowances are based on public transportation, but perhaps you could get the amount for the cost between your school and a nearby by bus stop that has more regular service from your city.

[ladyrhavyn]

I am way out in the middle of no where for my school from the main town that I live in...

If you can - maybe one of your teachers in your school can carpool with you. I totally lucked out and one of the teachers offered to car pool. So I get picked up and dropped off near my apartment and its now just a 10 minute walk from there  -

Otherwise I am in your shoes - I have bus at either 4:50 or 6:20 - if I have a class that runs late - which I do 2 days a week that runs till 5, I have to wait till 6:10 to catch that 6:20 bus at the bus stop, and then I don't get home till 7:30 because I have to change buses.

I completely understand where your coming from. My best suggestion is see if one of your teachers in your school lives near or around your area of town. You can even offer to pay for gas - though I did and they won't take it. But its still a nice courtesy

Give it a try :) and good luck

[Castielle]

I'm also in a rural area and have to take a bus ride of about 30minutes to get to my school. Luckily there is a school bus that runs from my town daily and I just hop on it. Ask around and see if your school doesn't have something similar. Sometimes I also do the carpooling thing, even though I offered to pay for gas I didn't. I'm sure you will find someone that maybe lives close to you and you can catch a ride.

[hankmcmasters]

geez

i don't live in a rural area but if my vice principal found out that i had to waste all that time she would order someone to give me a ride.

one time i got a big box in the mail and my VP forced my co-teacher to drive me home with it, it really only put her out 5 minutes and it saved me from carrying a 20 kilo box 15 minutes uphill.

i'd check with all of your co-teachers first, then ask them to ask other teachers, and if you can't get a ride through that, i'd mention it to someone important.  i'd be amazed if there weren't people willing to give you a ride

good luck

[Koreancarper]

I have a similar issue except that the last city bus home is at 4:15 so I am always teaching when it comes around. So sometimes I am able to get a ride with one of the teachers at my school but a lot of the time they stay late. When this happens I usually catch a ride with the students on the school bus. It takes a while but it gets me home. I have even missed that bus before as well looking for a teacher to give me a ride. When that happens I just wait in my classroom until one of the teachers heads into town.

[misha.nguyen]

If you're in a public school, the school must give u a travel allowance. i think you should get a lift from the other teacher that lives near you but also pitch in for gas every week or once a month.

[natalie0928]

I think the reason why K teacher told you not to give a ride any more is that that K teacher didn't feel comfortable. The teacher couldn't speak or understand English well and you might try to speak something in English to break the ice.This is all I can guess from your writing. I think that most of teachers drive their cars to get to the school. It's not quite fair only for you to take a bus in that rural area. My recommendation is to get some help from Korean English teacher who has been teaching for long. Tell her or him how you think and how you feel. The Korean English teacher will find someone to give a ride for you.

[miwon]

Hey, thanx for the replies – makes me feel better just to know others are also in this type of situation. Think for now I’ll just keep asking the Korean Language teacher to take me to my home or some where near by… Will definitely offer gas money, it’s only for 3 afternoons in the week, so I’m sure it’s okay.   

[teecherjannie]

I've always taken taxis to and from my school. And then I just got fed-up because the traffic in the mornings skyrocketed the fare meter!
I decided to make use of google's transit service (www.google.com/transit) and www.daum.com (maps). You just pin your starting and ending destinations on the map and it gives you the local city bus routes to school. voila! I hope it helps!

over and out!

[cupcakessss]

I should probably quit whining about my less than desirable apartment in the center of seoul, <5 min walk from my school ^^ :o

[superjo2092]

I just started at a public school.  I live in the city, but the bus commute is one hour and 20 minutes for one way.  It's ridiculous.  And I'll be going to multiple schools in the area.  I've read some of the posts on here about buying cars and getting driver's licenses.  Seems like me just buying a used car would be the best option.

[Jordo]

I would ask your school about a school bus for the kids that you may also be able to ride.

[Mezoti97]

At my old school, I used to take the bus to go to school and come back home, although it wasn't a rural area (so buses came pretty frequently and there were several different bus numbers I could take to go home) and it wasn't a long bus ride (maybe about 15 minutes), so it wasn't really a big deal for me to use the bus. Sometimes every once in a while, there were a few Korean teachers at my old school who had cars and would kindly offer to give me a lift home, which was ironic, since one of my former co-teachers at the time had a car, but never offered me a ride home (needless to say, we didn't get along that well, although not because of the lack of ride offers from her -- I just never felt she was really willing to help me out, in general, much less offer me a ride home). But actually, later on, I eventually started walking home from school for exercise, though; the walk took me about 30 minutes (or 25 minutes, if I walked fast), so it wasn't bad and I didn't mind the walk, as long as the weather was okay (not too cold/hot/rainy/snowy).

Anyway, in your case, as others have already suggested, I would say just ask and offer to pay for gas. In the wost case scenario, he might say no, but since it sounds like taking the bus is pretty inconvenient for you, I think you might as well ask about the possibility of carpooling.