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Published: September 8th 2008
An-nyeong!
On Friday at 6:30 am, I said good-bye to Mikey and my Aunt and Uncle and hit the road with Mom and Dad headed to O’Hare International Airport. We had a 4 hour car ride before arriving at Terminal 5. I checked in and found out that one of my bags was overweight, so Mom and I shuffled stuff from one to the other and managed to get it underweight. That was pretty much the first and only freak-out I have had so far (knock on wood). Then we went and exchanged some US Dollars (USD) for some Korean Won. I decided that I should get some of it before I leave so I don’t have to worry about it when I get there and have 4 heavy suitcases! Then we sat at the food court and waited for one of my best friends, Todd, to see me off. Todd loves planes - watching them take off, watching them land, looking at them, telling which model they are, inspecting them, but who can blame him, he was trained as a pilot - so I was wondering his intentions for the visit 😉 Just kidding Toddy, I know you love
me, and I was so glad you came! Todd, with all of his plane knowledge, told me to take food with me. I didn’t know you could take food because of all the new restrictions, but I guess it’s just liquids that they watch for. So, Dad ran and got some snacks for me, and I managed to stuff them in my bag and coat pockets, yes, even the coat pockets were used for packing! Todd treated me to two cheeseburgers from McDonald’s that we managed to shove in my computer bag, and thank God we did!
After Todd left, Mom and Dad got me into the passport check line and we said our good-byes. Then I went through security, which was a treat. I put my carryon on belt, then I put my computer bag on the belt, but I had to take out my computer and put it in a separate bin, and then take my shoes off and put them in a bin with my coat and blanket, so I had four separate bins going and it was a little tedious. I managed to get through without setting off any alarms, which to my knowledge was
a first. I always managed to get stopped and patted down on domestic flights! So after security, I waved to Mom and Dad saying that I made it through and they left. I meanwhile went, at Todd’s recommendation, to get a big bottle of water - that is, after I put my shoes back on, put my computer back in its case, piled my coat and blanket on my suitcase, and slung my computer bag around my shoulder. What a mess.
I then waited for 30 minutes or so until boarding. I was in seat 46J, a window seat on the passenger side. The plane was a Boeing 777-200 (Todd, correct me if I’m wrong) and it had three seats, by three seats, by three seats, so it was pretty big! I flew the lowest class, but it was fine. I had my own personal TV screen in the seat ahead of me with a remote that doubled as a phone if you wanted to pay .65 cents a minute. The touch screen TV also let me see the route, where we were, flight details, and all kinds of maps including time zone, where it is day-night in the
world, and the pilot’s view. Other things on the system were video games, music (to listen to while sleeping, or to drown out the engines), shopping, and movies. I managed to watch 4 movies on the flight. I started off with Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who, then I watched some of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, which I fell asleep in the first 15 minutes. So after I slept for an hour or so, I resumed the movie. Then I watched Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the slept another hour. Finally, I watched Leatherheads, which, I think I fell asleep to because I can’t remember the ending.
I had 2 meals on the plane - lunch and dinner. For lunch, I had Bibimbap at the suggestion of my seatmate. It was a bowl of veggies that you mixed rice in with and added hot pepper paste and sesame oil. It had a side of seaweed soup, pickles (I think), and a pineapple/watermelon combination served with wine. I ate most of the Bibimbap and the watermelon and I was pretty full. It was good, and spiced to taste, so I couldn't complain. I also used a
fork/spoon/knife for those of you who were wondering. Chopsticks weren't an option. For the second meal, it was either pasta or chicken and my seatmate again suggested the chicken, which I was leaning toward as well. It was reeeeally good! It was rice, carrots/peas/beans, and then chicken in the main dish, a salad/coleslaw thing, a roll and butter, and a lemon dessert. I ate all of the main course, most of the salad, and the roll, and I was stuffed. Jino ate my dessert for me. We also were served peanuts, a "bread" that was actually a roll filled with a bean/walnut mixture (surprise!), and many drinks of soft drinks, juices, teas, and coffees (and wine if you chose so).
I was blessed to have an empty seat next to me and then have a very nice young man named Jino (pron. Jee-no) in the other seat. He was originally from Korea, but went to America to study and now he’s getting a master’s in accounting. He was very nice and talked about his new baby back in Korea that he couldn’t wait to see. He also helped me with the Korean language and corrected and threw out some
of my flash cards because apparently they were unintentionally rude. (Note to self: Check with a native speaker before speaking because books can be very wrong!) He quizzed me on the ones that I really should know, and I did pretty well. He was my very own Rosetta Stone because he wouldn’t let me go on until I pronounced the words just right! At the conclusion of our flight, right before touch-down, he revealed to me that he was going to see his dad’s concert. Apparently, I had been sitting by a very famous singer’s son! The father is very well known in Korea and he actually grew up in Jeonju! His name is Song Dae Kwan. He has his own Wikipedia entry and if you’re curious, here is a YouTube video of him:
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Jino then helped me find my way to customs where I had to fill out a form with check boxes asking if I had any guns, drugs, mental illness, plants, or animals. Yeah, the form was a joke, it was just a bunch of check boxes! The lady then scanned my passport and stamped my Visa and I was off to baggage claim.
Jino’s bags came right away and mine were almost last, so he went outside to smoke while I waited. (Note: Most Korean men smoke.) I finally got my bags, put them on a cart, and was expecting them to be rooted through by inspection, but nope, I just handed another check-box card to a guard and was out the door! I didn’t know I could take the cart with me outside, so here I was pulling two big suitcases with two others attached. Boy, did I look foreign! People were staring like crazy (but later I found out staring is a compliment). I met back up with Jino and he looked at me, shook his head, and left me with his bags and mine so he could go get me a cart. He then packed my bags on it and took me to the limo bus ticket window and helped me buy a ticket. (Thank God he was there!) He spoke Korean to the woman and got me a ticket in lickety-split! He then took me across the street to wait for my bus and showed me the route and told me exactly what bus to get on. We then
got a picture together and he went on his way. He also gave me his phone number and urged me to call in case I need a translation or get lost. He was so nice, and I am very thankful he was there to help me!
By this time, it is already Saturday evening (4 hour drive to Chicago, 14 hour flight - while losing 14 hours - then time for a 4 hour bus ride!) and the bus was coming at 6pm. It was right on time and it was a plush charter bus with two seats on one side and one seat on the other. It was far more comfortable than the plane! It even had a plasma TV in front that showed the Korean news and some funny game show that had to do with counting money while answering questions combined with a singing competition. It was weird to say the least.
We traveled to Seoul to Gimpo International Airport for more pickups, which there was hardly room on the bus. Traveling through Seoul was an experience by itself. I learned very quickly that in Korea, traffic lights are optional, lane lines are optional, the
shoulder/side of the road is open game, and cabbies are the most wreckless people on earth. Another difference is in between the roads, not quite medians, but more like where we would put a CVS/Walgreens if there was room, or leave it as a park/greenspace, there were gardens. These weren’t flower gardens, but vegetable gardens with corn, beans, tomatoes, and pumpkins. They also had a lot of nurseries with trees and flowers. There were a TON of both of these areas. We then got out of Seoul and the trip got a little fuzzy because I fell asleep, being so comfortable. All of a sudden we stopped and everyone got off the bus. I figured out it was a rest stop, but I didn’t know how long the stop was and I didn’t want to chance getting left behind, so I held my bladder (I hadn’t gone to the bathroom since O’Hare!) and stayed on the bus. After everyone got back on with snacks and bags, 15 minutes later, we were on the road again. I went back to sleep and woke up as we were entering Jeonju. We made another stop, before mine. Luckily, I could see a tall
building with “CORE HOTEL” written on the top, and I remembered Jino telling me to get off at the Core Hotel, so when we stopped, I stumbled off the bus and was met by 3 Koreans (2 guys and a girl) who helped with my luggage and took me to my apartment. I learned that they were all foreign supervisors and they were all very nice. The one who took me in his car was Olham (or something) and then in the other car with my luggage was Kenny and his wife. They walked me to my apartment, put my luggage inside and asked me if I needed anything. Ignorantly, I said, “no,” but luckily they mentioned water and toilet paper, which I definitely needed. So Kenny took me to a 24-hour convenient store which was a short walk down the street. He kindly paid for me since my Won got lost in the shuffle. I’ll pay him back someday when I see him again. They then took me back to my apartment where John Lee (the owner who got me here) called Olham and set up a lunch date for the next day at noon. Unknowingly, the three of
them wanted to take me out the next day, so I apologized because they didn’t say anything, but it was okay.
After they left, I ripped open my suitcases to find pajamas so I could get out of my traveling clothes. I also figured out I needed my timer because I needed to get up by 10 the next day so I could get ready to go out to lunch. I was worried since I had only slept 4-6 hours that I wouldn’t get up. I couldn’t find it, but it didn’t matter anyway because I got up every 2 hours to look at my watch. I also managed to set up the internet so I could video home. It was around 10 or 11 that I finally got it working and showed Mom and Dad around my apartment, which is the size of two dorm rooms, not counting the kitchen and bathrooms. After hanging up, I was dead tired, so I finally went to bed at midnight after 22 hours of travel!
An-nyeong-hi-kye-se-yo!
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Pam
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WOW, Megs. Pictures were great. Now I'll know what I'm in for. Send Jino! It's everything you said it was. Get some rest and talk to you later. Love, MOM.