The Adventure Begins...Day 1 in Korea

Hello from Korea!

I haven't been able to use my computer much for the past few days so please allow me to bring you up to date on the recent events of my life.

So after getting no sleep on Tuesday night, I flew out of Atlanta at 6:50 am EST on Wednesday morning. (see above picture) Yes, I got a haircut.

My flight to Chicago left a little late but still arrived at O'Hare International Airport in plenty of time for my connecting flight to Korea. American Airlines failed to tell me that my checked luggage would automatically be transferred over to my connecting flight so I spent my first hour in the airport waiting at the baggage claim before figuring out that it wasn't going to come out. I decided that my first priority after that should be checking in with my next flight on Asiana Airlines, that way I would know what gate I would be leaving from and I could get some sort of answer as to where my baggage was.

After going up the the Ticketing/Check-In area and pacing up and down the terminal, I was unable to find any sign of Asiana Airlines. Eventually I was able to find a map of the airport. 

I was busy wondering around Terminal 3, when I needed to be at Terminal 5. Luckily, O'Hare Airport has a train that goes to all of the terminals so I was able to get there quite easily. (Where's Terminal 4? If there is no Terminal 4, shouldn't Terminal 5 be Terminal 4? These are important questions that need to be answered!)

After arriving at the International Terminal (Terminal 5), I checked in with Asiana and was told by the Indian lady behind the counter that my bags would automatically be transferred over to Asiana. Hooray! She then asked me a lot of questions about why I was going to Korea. We discussed my job, Korean culture, adventure, and all kinds of stuff like that. She seemed awfully interested in what I was doing. Maybe I should have asked her for her number...

I checked in, then immediately went to the booth to the exchange booth to get some Korean money, in case there was any trouble acquiring it in Korea. For $525 I got something like 550,000 Won. Nice. I was already halfway to being a millionaire. 

I swaggered through security, feeling awfully wealthy and found my gate. There were already a lot of Koreans, Japanese, and Philipinos...Philippeanos...people from the Philippines waiting at the gate. I strolled around the airport, bought some stuff for the flight, and hung out until it was time to board the plane.  At last, they called for the plane to board and it was time for my 14 hour journey to Korea.

I'd never heard of Asiana Airlines before now. I expected to fly KoreanAir to Korea and was actually a little disappointed when I saw that I would be flying Asiana. I expected the trip to be long and cramped, and according to my ticket I didn't get any meals on the trip. I was ready for 14 hours of hell. 

What I got instead was the best flight I've ever been on in my life. That's right, the best flight of my life was one that lasted 14 hours. The chairs were very comfortable, the service was fantastic, and I was fed not once, not twice, but 3 times (not counting snacks). The food was great and served to us by some of the most beautiful Korean women that I've ever seen. (I was later told that women working for Asiana have to be tall, beautiful, happy, and must speak good Korean, English, and some Japanese. Wow.) We had a choice of Western meals or Korean meals. I chose Korean for my meals (except breakfast, which I slept through. A flight attendant saw me wake up and brought me a sandwich. Yeah. That's what I call service.) I had bibimbap, which was awesome, and it came with fruit and kimchi. I'd never had kimchi before the flight...now I don't know how I ever lived without it. I also had spicy octopus for my second meal, which I expected to be gross but turned out to be quite tasty. In addition to the good food and service, we had TV screens that came with a little controller that could be used to access movies, radio, games, and other stuff that I never even explored. It was awesome. I played some of the games, did crossword puzzles, read from "The Korean Tribune", and listened to a lot of K-Pop on the way there. I'd planned to study Korean on my computer but decided not to waste the battery. I did spend a lot of time practicing "Nice to meet you" in Korean so that I could impress my director and/or coworkers at the airport. At some point, the little Phillipino...Philipino...child from the Phillipines that was sitting next to me fell asleep on my shoulder. I was too pumped about Korea to really care. 

After 14 hours our plane landed at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, Korea. 

This is probably the coolest airport that I've ever been to. There's all kinds of stuff going on there! It also looks really cool, sleek, and clean! 

After going through immigration and waiting forever to collect my bags, I walked out into the receiving area. I was told that there would be someone there with a sign that had my name on it. When I walked out, none of the signs had my name on them! Before the sinking feeling could set in, a well-dressed man with a smile on his face walked forward and asked, "Are you Patrick coming from Chicago?" I said yes and asked him what his name was. He told me it was Lee. At last, the moment of truth had arrived; I could finally use the phrase I'd been practicing throughout the duration of the flight! I shook his hand, bowed and tried to say "Nice to meet you" in Korean, but immediately forgot how to say it and said something along the lines of "Monkey apple carburetor." He smiled and laughed and directed me to his car. It was a very sporty Kia. We drove for about an hour along the coast. There were lots of mountains, bridges, and beautiful scenery along the way. Along the way, I chattered like a monkey in a tree, asking Mr. Lee lots of questions about Korea, the cities we drove through, sports, family, and whatever I could think of. Mr. Lee informed me that he was the husband of the director, that he worked at the school, and that he had 2 kids. We also talked about baseball, UFC, and soccer. He'd spent some time in New Zealand and was familiar with their rugby team, and even knew the Haka. (this awesome dance that the team does before their matches; you know what I'm talking about, Will.) At the end of about an hour, we arrived in Seongnam.

Yeah, approximately 1 million people live in Seongnam. And more people commute there for work every day. Pretty cool!

We reached the school. Mr. Lee let me out of the car and showed me up the stairs to the second floor of a building. We walked through a glass door, where Mr. Lee instructed me to kick off my shoes and gave me some indoor slippers to wear. He went into the school and got the director, who was teaching a class. She came out to greet me and told me that they were very excited about my arrival. She asked if I was tired and Mr. Lee said something to her in Korean as he left to teach class. She laughed and told me that he said that I was very energetic. She offered to let me use the internet while she taught. I expected her to show me to an office, an empty classroom, or perhaps the computer lab but instead she led me to a class that was filled with children. At the front of the classroom was a desk with a laptop on it. She told me that I could use it and got some of the children to help me access websites in English . After getting me set up, she started talking to the children in Korean. I heard my name in there somewhere along with "seunsing nim" (teacher) and at one point, they all looked at me and said "Hello!" "Hello," I replied, which sent them all into giggles. "Annyeoung haseyo!" I added, (Hello in Korean) and they all gasped. The director began teaching the class in English. She got as far as "Okay class,  today we are studying Lesson 2, Part 1. Open your books to page..." before one of the kids shouted "Teach us in Korean!" (in Korean, of course). She then took the children to another classroom so that I could use the Internet in privacy. That's the sort of hospitality that I have experienced so far. 

While I surfed the Internet, some of the children stopped by to say hello. One of them was named "Jake." (his English name, not his real name) I later found out that Jake was the son of the director and Mr. Lee. After about 30 minutes, the director summoned me to her office to eat with her, Jake, and one other teacher. (Her English name was "Jane.") We ate 3 different kinds of street food, and after that the director gave me "stick coffee."

Stick coffee is a little packet of coffee that has instant coffee, sugar, and powdered cream. You just pour it in your cup, add hot water, and stir. You can buy these big bags of 100 sticks at supermarkets for about $10-15 (or 45 billion won). I've been drinking a lot of it to stay up and get acclimated to Korean time.

After dinner, I got to go back to the classroom to surf the internet some more. This time the class stayed in there. They mainly worked on a worksheet in their workbooks. One of the kids was eating a big bag of chips. When she was finished, she turned the bag up to eat the rest of the crumbs. She caught me looking at her and turned pink. "Is that good?" I said, in Korean. Well, at least that's what I think I said. It probably came out as "Monkey apple carburetor." Either way, she nodded. The class worked for about 40 minutes and then went home for the day. Jake came in after a while and we talked about video games and K-Pop. Jake's a really smart kid with a good attitude and very good manners. He's 13 in Korean years but probably only 11 or 12 by our ages. He's very friendly and seems to be very intrigued by my Western-ness. 

When the last class was finished, Mr. Lee took me to his house to get the key to my apartment. I noticed that it was quite a drive to their house. I hoped that we would be turning around to go back closer to the school, but after retrieving the key, Mr. Lee drove about 5 minutes further and showed me to my new apartment.

Here are some photos of the apartment. It's small by American standards, but very well-equipped. It was much better than I expected. Not only did it come with a washing machine, bathroom, and a kitchen, but it also came with a TV, land line, AND  air conditioning! The air conditioning is great right now because it's really hot out here. Notice the picture of the door: there's a little area where you leave your shoes. Most places have this little area. I love it.

When we walked in, Mr. Lee showed me everything in the apartment. When he looked in the bathroom, he exclaimed "Oh no! You don't have any soup!" I thought maybe he was referring to water in the toilet, but upon closer inspection I saw that the toilet was working just fine. I finally realized that he was saying "soap." He told me that he'd be right back. After about 15 minutes he returned with not only soap, but shampoo, conditioner, bread, and milk. (For toast in the morning, he said). After putting the milk in the refrigerator and making the bed, I immediately passed out as soon as I lay down. Day 1 in Korea = Awesome. Stay tuned for Day 2!