Mom and I got off to the airport around 7 am, which is what we were aiming for. Trying to take a few back roads, I got us off to a rocky start. Thankfully my mother is calm and didn't kill me with as my nerves were getting the best of me and I was a tad cranky. As we were about 10 minutes from the airport I got a call asking if I was there yet from the travel agent who was trying to tell me something that I couldn't really understand, upon getting checked into my flight I found out what it was... the flights to SFO had all been delayed and I would be on the 9:30 as opposed to the 10:20 flight. Great, this left me with about 30 minutes to go through security and get to my gate. Let the race begin!
My flights both went smooth as could be and I lucked out and didn't have a person in the middle seat on either flight. I cannot sing the praises of Singapore airlines enough. AMAZING!!!! Anyone flying to Asia, I highly recommend them. The food was good (plenty of options), snacks were abundant, alcohol was all free (pretty much all you could drink), great entertainment choices, and the crew were fantastic! After nearly 16 hours of travel time I made it to ICN (Incheon) just outside of Seoul. I was pleasantly surprised that customs took less time than going through security at either PDX or SFO. I always feel so special when someone is waiting for me at the airport holding a sign with my name. Oh I forgot to mention that I had to take 3 large heavy suitcases, thankfully only one of them was over 50lbs but it cost $330! YOUCH! I also had 2 very heavy backpacks as carry ons that contained my 2 laptops and the other had my camera and lenses. This girl has got to be prepared! ;)
About an hour and half/ two hours later I was pulling up in front of my school where my co-teacher was waiting to take me to my apartment... it was roughly 9:45 pm and she had been waiting there for me since school got out around 4 pm that afternoon. SO NICE! Annie is her English name. She got me to my apartment, about 20 minute walk to my school (which is what I will be doing 2 times a day for the next year), oh and it is at the top of a hill too. WOOT! Good thing I go downhill on my way to school in the am! Annie had been at my place earlier that day cleaning it and going shopping to get me some starter groceries: milk, bread, jam, coffee, water, oranges, tomatoes, and cleaning products, toilet paper (thank God!), and a few other items. What a nice surprise it was to walk into my place with these items ready for me.
My place is about the size of a large hotel room (bigger than i expected really). I have a 2 top gas stove, rice cooker, microwave, micro SMALL fridge, and a bed that is rock hard. I am thankful for everything! Just taking some getting used to, especially the bathroom, though I do have a normal sit down toilet the shower is pretty much the entire bathroom. It is tiled (very small) and you just shut the door and turn on the water... good thing I brought shower shoes!
Ok, this will do it for now. I will post a few pics and a few more of my observations later. For now I am going to try and get my first warm shower and get to bed. HASTA!!!!
Annie my co-teacher
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