Day of Traveling

6:00 AM (on the 7th, Pacific Time)
Goleta wakes me up and I am unable to fall back asleep.

8:00 AM
Ken Lee calls and informs me that he convinced the Adventure Teaching guy to meet me at the airport. Huzzah!

11:30 AM
I board a plane to Seattle. There are many screaming babies on this plane.

12:10 PM
Plane lands in Seattle. We were only in the air for 30 minutes, and we never got high enough so that I couldn't see the cars on I-5. What a pointless flight!

12:50 PM
I finally find Asiana airlines and get my boarding pass. I buy snacks and water. I wait.

3:20 PM
I board the plane for Korea. Still not really freaking out. I'm too short to put my stuff in the overhead storage, so a Korean-American dude helps me.

3:50 PM
Plane takes off. I'm sitting in the middle row of four seats. No one sits next to me, so I get 4 seats to lay down and sleep! Yay!


3:55 PM
An elderly man slides into the seat next to me and starts speaking Chinese. He shows me two tickets and points to the front of the plane. I smile and nod, and then he leaves and comes back with his wife. I finally realize that I'm being kicked out of my seat. Fortunately, they had a window seat, and I still have two seats to myself. Still, how boring.

4:30 PM
Dinner time! I have to choose between the American meal and the Korean meal. The American meal is steak so I choose the Korean. It is bibimbap. I have to read the instructions on how to eat it... :D

5:00 PM
I watch Pirates of the Caribbean. The new one. It sucks. I fall asleep.

????
I wake up and we are flying over Japan. I guess I slept for about 7 hours.

????
Second meal. It is dry pasta with dry chicken and flavorless pasta salad...and 4 small pieces of Melon. I eat it and feel sick.

7:05 PM (on the 8th, Korea time)
I get off the plane. Korean-American dude helps me not get lost. Customs is fast and easy.

7:20-ish PM
I exit into the lobby. I look for signs that say Taren, but no luck. Then I see a sign that say 'Karen (or Taren?)'. I awkwardly go stand by it. Suddenly a man is there! It is a Mr. Choi! Hooray!

He drives me to Seoul. It is a pleasant drive.

In Seoul, we get out and look for a place to eat. Mr. Choi informs me that I'm acting like a 4-year-old by the way I keep pointing at Korean letters and trying to read them, and that this somehow makes him look like a pedophile. This is entertaining for me, so I do it more. Poor Mr. Choi.

Then we eat hamburgers!

9:50 PM
He takes me to the bus station. There is an 11:00 bus to Jinju, but the only seat is that awkward middle on in the back. I buy a ticket for the 11:40 bus, the last one of the evening.

10:00-11:20 PM
Mr. Choi and I wait. He informs me that it is hard to get Koreans to make eye contact with strangers on the street. I attempt to disprove this theory by staring at the eyes of everyone who walks by. It seems to be pretty true, but I definitely got a lot of quick glances disguised as looking at the building behind me. It's entertaining because I'm tired. And weird. Mr. Choi smokes 13 cigarettes. I tell him he will die.

11:30 PM
Asian toilets. I don't know why I was surprised. But all went well.

11:40 PM
I get on the bus and say goodbye to Mr. Choi. He says the bus ride will be about 3-4 hours. The driver does not speak English. Gulp!

3:something AM
I think I'm in Jinju, but am not really sure. I ask the bus driver when I am supposed to get off. He cringes away from me and says 'next.' Geez.

The bus stops again, so I get off. I am instantly surrounded by Taxi drivers speaking Korean to me. I stare at them bewildered. One of them takes my suitcase and says 'where to?' I look around for Mr. Lee (not that I know what he looks like) but do not see anyone looking for an American. I take my suitcase inside and sit down. The taxi drivers keep looking at me. Then one of them says 'telephone, telephone!' Another one comes over to me with a cell phone. I show him Mr. Lee's number and he calls it. Then he points at me to stay. I am a silly American. It was nice of him though.

A man calls 'Taren?' across the bus station. Relief! Mr. Lee drives me to my apartment, which is huge and amazing even though it is very obvious a boy lived here before me.

4:00 AM
Mr. Lee leaves me to sleep, and says he will show me around tomorrow. He says he likes my positive energy. I actually am pretty positive when I am tired.

I shower because I smell of sweat (because it's humid here!) and cigarette smoke (from Mr. Choi :P ).

5:00 AM
I lay down on my sheet-less mattress with only the one blanket I brought and Cammy (because I am a child). It is so hot it doesn't really matter.

9:00 AM
I wake up and cannot for the life of me fall back asleep.

11:00 AM
I blog.

11:30 AM
I discover air conditioning. Maybe I can sleep more now?!

But probably not.

More updates soon.

Meows!