Flight & First Night

So...the flight from Chicago to Seoul was one of the best flights i'd ever been on...and it was 14 hours, mind you. If you have to fly to Korea, fly Asiana Airlines. They were amazing.

The food was delicious. I had plenty of leg room (and I'm not a short person either). The flight was smooth, except for a few pockets of turbulence. I forgot I was on a plane a couple times. It was glorious.


So far today I've met up with a few other teachers here for training. All of us are going to separate schools, which is neat/sad all at the same time. In the little time I've gotten to know them, I quite like them. The ones I've gotten to meet thus far are fun to be around. Lunch was a blast. We went to a little underground place in downtown Seoul (I think it was downtown Seoul? not to quite sure...idk my way around yet lol) For starters, I was the only girl in a group of 4 guys & they were all over 6ft tall. We were like a walking group of giants. Hilarious. Lunch was like a miso soup/meats mixture - one soup was miso & seafood, the other was miso & meat. The lady told us to mix them, so we did, happily :) It was pretty delicious, I must say. We each got a beer as well, which was happily welcomed by us. There's nothing quite like having a beer with new friends in the middle of a foreign city where you don't speak the language :)

ALSO! I found out that because I'm going to be teaching for April English, I'll be working with younger children, which is what I think I secretly wanted to do all along. So for that, I'm super excited :)

for now, that is all...the jet lag has been creeping up on me & I had to stop studying for the night because I fell asleep on my notes. whoops. I'll have to finish going over the material in the morning - tomorrow we have knowledge tests over the material they gave us to study in preparation for training. tomorrow marks the start of training - and so it begins!!

I MADE IT!!

I made it to korea. this is crazy.

the flight was awesome. i'll touch more on that later. right now...i smell like a hobo. shower & food, here i come! and to find my fellow teachers. yippee for other people that speak english!!

I think it's finally hitting me..

..that I'm leaving tomorrow. tomorrow.

I'm doing laundry, sorting clothes in to "yes", "no", "maybe", & "keep for when I get back" piles. I think a lot of things will go into the Goodwill pile for clothes I should've gotten rid of a long time ago. Having to think about what you'll need for a year really helps you make snap judgements about your clothes.

I meant to start this bad boy a while ago, when I knew for sure that I was leaving & where I was going, but I got stuck on the name. I didn't really think of one until yesterday, and thus, here I am. "A Blonde in Bucheon". Bucheon Sangdong is where I'll be calling home for the next year. I'm going to be surrounded and submerged into the Korean culture, which is very different from my usual way of living - surrounded by the many races in the melting pot that is Atlanta.

I'm prepared to be looked up to (since I'm practically a giant), stared at (since I have a lot of blonde hair), and taken pictures of (since I'm ohso different than the locals). I've indulged in Italian and Mexican food and dark beer (since it may be a year before I have them again) and said bye to my friends (I've had like 4 going away dinners; it's a tad ridiculous).

I'm OHSO excited to be going. This is completely unlike anything I've ever done before & it should be an amazing adventure. I'm sad to leave everyone here, but luckily, all of my people are super supportive and excited for me. & thus..off to ninja-land I go! To new beginnings & (hopefully) new friends. I can't wait!

Calm moment vanished, I'm back to furiously packing and doing laundry. That & wondering how the bajeezes I'm going to fit a year's worth of clothes into two 50lb bags and a carryon..oh heavens to betsy, this should be interesting.