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Published: February 17th 2006
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It is Wednesday February 16, 2006 5:00pm, at least here in Seoul Korea.
Flying here from Nashville Tennessee gave me the feeling of defying all boundaries of time. In the process of the 28-hour journey I only saw the night once as it faded into day the morning we left. Our “over night” flight to Seoul only constituted as night if one considers the lowered blinds and faded lights of a jet plane as capturing the true nature of the nocturnal.
Min Jung and I left early Monday morning from Nashville and flew 1 hour to St Louis. The plane landed just as our next flight began to board. We made it just in time for our 4-hour flight to San Francisco. We had an hour layover and then left for the 14 hour flight to Seoul. The flight wasn’t too bad. I amused myself by reading some more about Korea, watching 2 movies and taking a nap. I had felt pretty productive and thought the time had flown by, but when Min Jung told me we still had six hours left, I realized it would be a little rough. They did feed us both lunch and dinner.
When we arrived in Seoul it took us a little over an hour to get through the airport. I had to register as a non-citizen, which took up a good portion of the time. When we went to get our bags, amazingly they were all there. Just for the record I managed to pack only one suitcase along with my carry on and small backpack. I either over packed my suitcase or they handled it roughly because when I found it the zipper was 1/2 broken off the main compartment, the good news it I haven’t found anything missing…yet. We then headed over to custom claims where we had to fill out some more paper work. Then we were free. We met her grandma and mom, neither of which speak English. But it is amazing how much language we use just though body motion.
Since Min Jung was moving home permanently from her 5 years in the States, she had 3 large suitcases and 2 bid carry ons. After we put hers and my luggage into her mom’s car there was little room for us. So her grandma road with us as we took a 1 and a half hour bus ride and then caught a taxi to get to the apartment. On the bus ride I tried my hardest to keep my eyes open to catch a glimpse of the city but it was in vein. The apartment was nice. It was simple and decorated with calm earthy tones. It had the standard floor heating and western style beds.
Min jung and her mom dropped me off at Yonsei where I moved all of my stuff into the dorm room. They are fairly small with only 3 feel between my roommate’s and my bed (my roommate has not yet arrived though).
At first I couldn’t get the internet to work in my room so I had to go down to the computer lab. It worked out good because on my way down to the lab I met Lisa. She is from Indonesia and she invited me up and gave me a skirt and a little wallet thing and a wall décor. I am so excited that I am not the only one who packed a lot of stuff and is eager to give it away. So then she came to my room and I gave her some things. She is Islamic so we stopped by her room and she prayed. It was really neat. She washed her face and put on the dress, and then went through the motions. It was really beautiful. I think we are going to go get dinner in a little bit.
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Grandma Sari
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A little bit of nothing
Hey! You are there and without any problems or so it sounds. So what have you done over the past few days? Have you checked out any temples yet or caught the latest soaps on tv. The TV must be really cool since it is all in Korean. Guess you will be using your laptop more than you thought you would. Heather has her own blog now if you are interested I'll send you her address and you can keep in touch that way. Have you spoken with any of the family yet. Your Mom had not seen your travelblog. I gave her the address and hope she had a chance to go into it. Guess that is all for now. Do we still write to you on your regular email address? Answer questions!!! Bye