On Friday I arrived at the airport at 8:15am. I had no problems checking in my bags (which, after an additional purge of clothes, were both around 43lbs so I didn't have to pay extra for overweight baggage). I boarded my little commuter plane from San Diego to Los Angeles. The flight was short and I arrived in LAX with plenty of time before my flight out to South Korea. In the airport I listened to my iPod (I am addicted and in love with my new iPod Touch which was well worth the price), slept a little bit to pass time and did lots of people-watching.
Finally it was time to board the plane to Korea. It was a
massive plane with two levels and two of those engine-things per wing. Here is a picture of the massive plane. I couldn't even fit the entire wing in the photo!
The flight from LAX to South Korea (Incheon airport) was 13 hours long. It went surprisingly quickly. I slept when I was bored but tried not to sleep too much so that I could sleep when I arrived. The movies on the plane were not that great; I watched The Proposal and The Soloist. I recommend you see the Soloist. So does Oprah.
When I arrived in Korea immigration was a cinch. They took everyone's temperature upon arrival to make sure no one was sick with influenza. I didn't have anything to declare, my bags were one of the first to come off the plane and everything went very efficiently. I walked out of the baggage claim area and right away found a man holding a sign with my name. On that sign was also another girl's name so I had to wait for her to arrive too, which is she did just a few minutes after me.
The girl's name is Jennifer. She is 1/2 Korean but doesn't speak any of the language. She is from Las Vegas and is also in Suwon, but about a 20-minute drive away from where I live. She seemed nice and I took down her email so hopefully I can meet up with her soon.
By the time I got to my apartment, which they call an officetel, it was close to 10pm. My co-teacher was not there when I arrived like she was suppose to be so the driver helped me into my apartment and then left. I stood there in the middle of the studio-loft with the fluorescent lights flickering, my bags surrounding me like dead soldiers, and after a moment I was able to catch my breath and look around my new home. It's small, perhaps 12x15 but there is a loft where my bed is so it makes the space more manageable. (I will upload pictures of the studio when I feel it is more moved-in and nicer to look at. Right now it is stale and sanitary-feeling. The walls are white and bare. The windows don't open so the air is stale and uninviting. )
About 15-minutes after I arrived my co-teacher, Mrs. Lee, rang my doorbell. She introduced herself, and then insisted that I go take a walk with her around the block. We walked in a few short circles around my block and pointed things out to me: this is the Korean restaurant, this is a Chinese restaurant, here is a Japanese restaurant, this is a pizza place that Katherine liked. Here is a coffee shop, here is a convenience store, etc. We went into a bakery that said it was french but has Korean pastries and she bought me a pastry and a sandwich to carry me over for the next day. She also bought me a quart of milk from the 7-11 (yes, they have 7-11's here). Then she walked me back to my door and left.
I went to sleep and slept until 8am the next day.
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