hang in there.

It was getting late on a Saturday night, nearly midnight, and I was miles from my pseudo-basement apartment. I caught the last scheduled subway train. The train rolled its way through the city; I stood in the middle and leaned up against a wall next to one of the doors that leads to the next train car. The train was fairly sparse which was normal for a late night ride. A young woman in her late twenties looks over and comments on how I look like im eigthteen years old. I didn't know whether she was trying to be rude or trying to be nice. After a minute of chatting I learned that she was a flight attendant for an airline company, I forget which one. She was nice. She also had a gorgeous smile. About halfway to my destination the subway speakers announces the final stop for the night. The subways run until midnight, then they stop, leaving all passengers no choice but to walk or take a taxi cab. The flight attendant lady gets all confused, she doesn't know the korean language. I dont blame her. Shoot, I could barely make out what the announcement was all about myself. I just knew it like the back of my hand because I've been in that situation before, not to mention at the exact same station too; been there and done that many times. We walk out, along with everybody else, and I'm trying to assure her that everything is ok. God I hated it when the subway makes its final stop like that. But that night was an unusual night, because a group of young ladies, again all foreigners who don't know a lick of korean, hears us talking and asks me for help. Boy were they relieved that they've found someone who speaks english! They were really worried and confused you can tell. So I go about assuring them that everything is ok. So there I was, a foreigner in a foreign land, leading about ten foreigners down so that we could catch a legitimate taxi cab. It took a while but I finally ended up hailing a cab. I give instructions for her destination, in my incredibly broken korean, and suddenly I was left with one less person to worry about. I gave myself a pat of my shoulder. She looks out the cab window and waves with the same gorgeous smile. That's the last I see of her. But it wasn't over. I walked the other girls for maybe a mile all the while trying desperately to hail more taxi's. It took two taxi's to take the whole group to their hotel. One of them, the leader, gave me her number as a gesture of gratitude. She was nice. But she hardly smiled really. She too was a english teacher, just like I was at the time. I went home a little later than usual and went to bed with a feeling of accomplishment. Those young ladies are lucky they met someone like me. It scares me what would've happened if I had not been there, or worse, if somebody with ill intentions was leaning on that wall in the middle of the train. They were absolutely clueless. God that scares me. And because they were so genuinely clueless I really felt for them. I made it my duty to make sure they made it through the night. I've been in their situation before, and I felt for them. I really did. I miss that place. So many people, so diverse, so much pollution, so much food, so dynamic. I promised a friend who's in desperate need of a shoulder to lean on that I'd be there soon enough. Hang in there Jenna, hang in there. Some day, one of these days soon enough, we will climb that mountain I've always talked about, and we can talk about all those important questions you have queued up about God, God's Word, about life, while sitting amongst the clouds. Hang in there.