PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA -- We have been here since Tuesday night, which is long enough to know that the workers and volunteers here in South Korea are some of the nicest people on the planet.
Seriously, I've yet to meet someone who didn't smother you in kindness. If you have a question, volunteers will answer it or solve it with a smile on their face. Or as I found out, they will take matters into their own hands.
My expertise on the bus system that transports media everywhere remains a work in progress. Last night, I wanted to go watch ski jumpers practice but I got confused on which bus to get on at the Main Press Center (MPC). Two volunteers outside were trying to help me when a man who was sitting in a courtesy van cleared meant for purposes other than shuttling media members offered to drive me up to the ski jumping stadium about 10 minutes away.
He got relatively close before being stopped by security at the bottom of the hill. The man then tried to find a different path around the back side. No good. Stopped again.
The security guards asked him to go inside through a staging tent. Their English was limited but they understood that I wanted to go up the hill to the ski jumping complex. They motioned me to a large tour bus that was sitting at the gate.
The driver motioned me for me to get in. I definitely knew this wasn't the right shuttle because no one else was on this big bus. It was just me and the driver. He didn't speak much English. At one point, we just sat for a few minutes at the bottom of the hill. I wasn't sure why.
But then he took me up to the top of the hill close to where I needed to be.
I found the right bus stop on the way home but the trip up stuck with me. Two drivers who weren't responsible for media pickups and certainly didn't need to help just one confused guy took time to give me a lift.
I'm very grateful.
