South Korea

How do you pack your entire life into two suitcases and a backpack? You either have very little belongings, you live in a box, or you are forced to according to airline regulations, I fall into the latter category. I spent over three hours packing, unpacking, rearranging, down sizing, and endless calls to my mother for assistance in order to pack for the next year of my life. I thought packing for three months was hard, try packing for a year for somewhere you know very little about. What kind of bedding do I need? Where will I be living? Where will I be working? These are just some of the inquiries I had. As did many of you all. And yet, as I sit here on the plane with 5 hours to go, having watched 2 and a half movies, played three games, and gone to the bathroom once, I'm still as clueless as before. But right now, those are the least of my worries as I realized about 2 hours into the flight out of Chicago that I did not pack a towel. So, my first shower experience in Korea may not be as luxurious as I would have liked it to be. I may be drying off with the t-shirt I'm rotting in right now (I know sorry for the visual), or I may be able to find a washcloth which would be just fabulous. We'll see, I'll let you know the outcome.

The fact that we still have five hours left until we've land and I can stand up without having to crawl over two people who I believe think I'm weird, I've had a lot of time to think about why the heck I got myself into this situation? I know that I can do this. I know that I'm getting ready to do something most people only dream about. But, moving half way across the world by myself? I do appreciate the prayers, the encouragement, and the love. haha I can do this. I will do this. I think at this point it is finally setting in that my friends and family are thousands of miles away and I know no one here. Don't forget the part about not knowing the language and looking like I do. So far, there have been three instances where Korean has been spoken to me and I feel like an idiot having to tell them sorry I do not understand them. Hopefully, that will be taken care of eventually.

I will say a semi proud moment would be when they brought around lunch and she started takling Korean at me and I said "I'm sorry," Which the flight attendant responded with the same and told me my food choices. Beef or Korean. What did I choose you ask? Korean of course. She then proceeded to ask me "Have you had Korean before?" To which I replied, "yes." So, I'm not really sure what I ate. I know there was rice, seaweed, beef, mushrooms, bean sprouts, and I believe zucchini. As well as some other sprout looking thing. there was also some weird looking pickles as well as some melon, which I steered clear of. There was also some seaweed soup which I did try. It was alright, but not something I would have chosen to eat. So, the man sitting in the isle seat, me being in the window seat, I watched inconspicuously to see what to do. I followed his lead and much to my surprise enjoyed the mixture of veggies that I normally wouldn't eat at home. (Sorry mom)

Anyways, post one finished. No pictures yet. I thought about documenting my airport/airplane time, but who wants to see that? Not me! Even though I ran into two friends at the OKC airport before I left.

I am grateful for this experience and terrified beyond belief. And the splitting headache isn't helping. haha Anyways, when you see this posted, you will know I have arrived in Korea and am probably just barely among the living. lol

Take care and I love you all!!!