I made it!

Well I made it to Korea. It was a long flight...12+ hours and I lost a whole day. Today is already April 1. But I caught up on all the new movies, Crazy Heart...didn't like it; Sherlock Holmes...liked it; Lovely Bones...liked it; It's Complicated...really liked it. (What else is there to do on an airplane for 12 hours?) They fed us twice...once I got bibimbap...it's a bowl with vegetables and ground meat (not sure what kind of meat it was)...you're supposed to mix it with rice and they gave us some sesame oil and a tube of hot pepper paste. It was really delicious. They also put hot water in a bowl and called it soup (as she was pouring the water, I'm thinking ramen noodles...yum) I'm sure it was seaweed water. Bleah! And a little salad of what tasted like pickles...probably called cucumber salad. The second meal was more of an American meal...regular airplane food--I was happy to see a roll and butter.

It was foggy and gray when I arrived. I was a little foggy too come to think of it. I dozed, off and on, but it's tough to sleep on the airplane. The seat were the MOST uncomfortable ever. I had nothing to declare through customs...so I didn't even have to stop. There was a sign and a driver waiting for me when I got out. I asked him if he spoke English and he said "Not too much." It's about a 30 minute drive from the airport to the Holt Guest House. Interesting to see the countryside. It looks a little like Sonoma County...rolling hills, trees--but everything is brown still. It's been cold here and spring has definitely not sprung. Lots of huge apartments...looks like projects to me...lots of Kias, Hyundais, Daewoos, saw one Cadillac, one Bentley, and some other cars I couldn't tell what they were. Most of the highway signs are in Korean (hangul) and English.

The one thing I still can't get over...look at all the Koreans! lol I know that sounds funny, but I've grown up in a white people world. Everyone was always white, or some variation thereof. I've ALWAYS been the minority. Here...everywhere I look there are Koreans. I find myself looking at how they do their hair, what color they've dyed their hair, if it's curly or straight like mine, the clothes they wear, how tall (or short mostly) they are. It's funny. I can totally just blend here...except when I open my mouth. haha. The lack of speaking Korean is going to be a challenge. But everyone was really nice so far, even if they didn't speak English. They tried their one or two words on me...like I do when someone from a different country visits us. It's all going to work out. Some things are just universal.

I have a lunch appointment with Ms. Seol...the lady who has been coordinating things for me from Holt. So eager to meet the folks I've just been talking to through e-mail and on FB. I'll take pictures today and will hopefully be able to post soon. Signing off for now.