Though I've been here for several days now, I feel the need to elaborate on my very first Korean misadventure. (Which did in fact begin before even leaving the States. Actually, come to think of it, the whole protracted story of my beating the odds and ending up here at all is kind of a misadventure. Were I a superstitious person whom fate showed signs, there is no way I ever would have made it, because I must say, everything from the timing of my Federal background check to the misspelling of my last name on my boarding pass proved an obstacle.)
The Many Mishaps that landed me in Suji, South Korea:
1. My employer misspelled my last name when booking my ticket, and apparently it wasn't able to be changed, so after spending 45 minutes in the middle of the night with a ticketing agent at the check-in counter in the Minneapolis airport, I held my breath and made it through security.
2. On my flight from Denver to San Francisco I sat next to a middle-aged Californian man reading a book entitled The Heart of Tantric Sex, which I can say with no hesitancy features very detailed illustrations. He then thought it appropriate to comment both to himself and to me on said illustrations. Needless to say, much of my time on this flight was spent either pretending to be asleep or reading my own book intently- both which were done with my ipod in.
3. My flight out of San Francisco was a misadventure in and of itself. After boarding the plane, and finding my seat next to a Korean guy close to my age, I realized I was horribly overdressed in my thin sweatshirt and jeans for a flight in a stuffy plane whose temperature was about 90 degrees and had no working AC. This hot hot situation was my first exposure to the Korean way of handling a not so ideal situation. While most Americans in this situation would likely begin to complain loudly and get frustrated, the guy next to me begin to fan himself using exaggerated hand gestures while giggling and saying "oh so hot hot hot! so hot! oh!" He was not alone. Soon I was giggling and smiling away about the heat and the absurdity of it along with those Koreans around me.
When we had been sitting on the plane for about 20 minutes, they made an announcement that there was a problem with the cooling system (no really?) and that we would all have to de-board the plane as it couldn't be flown as was. So de-board we did. The mechanics were able to fix it fairly quickly, but we were now 2 hours behind schedule. After once again boarding the plane (which though fixed, was still just as hot, as apparently the AC wouldn't kick in until the engine had started) and getting situated, we were delayed yet again by an overhead compartment that refused to close. Though that took the mechanic less than 5 minutes to fix, it took him 20 minute to actually get to the plane, delaying us further and resulting in more people shedding more clothes.
4. The 12 hour flight continued with out incident. The biggest incident was that the flight crew ran out of beer about 8 hours in. (Korean men know how to drink!) They were then relegated to finishing off the white wine and miniature plastic bottles of cheap whisky on ice. Woe is us. A long boring flight with no beer.
5. After landing in Incheon International Airport, I was met by my very dear friend Kyu-po, but there was no sign of my boss, Mr. Park. Apparently Mr. Park had the date of my arrival mixed up, and as such wasn't there to take me to my place. Kyu-po was exceptionally helpful in finding a bus to Suji (Suij is about 15 minutes outside of Seoul) and coming with me to meet my childhood friend Maddie, who is teaching at the same school I am. Unfortunately, we missed the Suji stop where Maddie was going to meet us, and ended up having to back track in a taxi which we took to a random street corner where we stood waiting for Maddie to meet us. I should add, throughout all of this it was raining buckets.
Conclusion: It was a long day (or 2?) or travel, but a lovely misadventure and quite a start to my time here. I'm exceptionally grateful to have friends here that I already know (Shout out to Kyu-po and Maddie... thanks again for straightening out the chaos), and looking forward to making more.
The Many Mishaps that landed me in Suji, South Korea:
1. My employer misspelled my last name when booking my ticket, and apparently it wasn't able to be changed, so after spending 45 minutes in the middle of the night with a ticketing agent at the check-in counter in the Minneapolis airport, I held my breath and made it through security.
2. On my flight from Denver to San Francisco I sat next to a middle-aged Californian man reading a book entitled The Heart of Tantric Sex, which I can say with no hesitancy features very detailed illustrations. He then thought it appropriate to comment both to himself and to me on said illustrations. Needless to say, much of my time on this flight was spent either pretending to be asleep or reading my own book intently- both which were done with my ipod in.
3. My flight out of San Francisco was a misadventure in and of itself. After boarding the plane, and finding my seat next to a Korean guy close to my age, I realized I was horribly overdressed in my thin sweatshirt and jeans for a flight in a stuffy plane whose temperature was about 90 degrees and had no working AC. This hot hot situation was my first exposure to the Korean way of handling a not so ideal situation. While most Americans in this situation would likely begin to complain loudly and get frustrated, the guy next to me begin to fan himself using exaggerated hand gestures while giggling and saying "oh so hot hot hot! so hot! oh!" He was not alone. Soon I was giggling and smiling away about the heat and the absurdity of it along with those Koreans around me.
When we had been sitting on the plane for about 20 minutes, they made an announcement that there was a problem with the cooling system (no really?) and that we would all have to de-board the plane as it couldn't be flown as was. So de-board we did. The mechanics were able to fix it fairly quickly, but we were now 2 hours behind schedule. After once again boarding the plane (which though fixed, was still just as hot, as apparently the AC wouldn't kick in until the engine had started) and getting situated, we were delayed yet again by an overhead compartment that refused to close. Though that took the mechanic less than 5 minutes to fix, it took him 20 minute to actually get to the plane, delaying us further and resulting in more people shedding more clothes.
4. The 12 hour flight continued with out incident. The biggest incident was that the flight crew ran out of beer about 8 hours in. (Korean men know how to drink!) They were then relegated to finishing off the white wine and miniature plastic bottles of cheap whisky on ice. Woe is us. A long boring flight with no beer.
5. After landing in Incheon International Airport, I was met by my very dear friend Kyu-po, but there was no sign of my boss, Mr. Park. Apparently Mr. Park had the date of my arrival mixed up, and as such wasn't there to take me to my place. Kyu-po was exceptionally helpful in finding a bus to Suji (Suij is about 15 minutes outside of Seoul) and coming with me to meet my childhood friend Maddie, who is teaching at the same school I am. Unfortunately, we missed the Suji stop where Maddie was going to meet us, and ended up having to back track in a taxi which we took to a random street corner where we stood waiting for Maddie to meet us. I should add, throughout all of this it was raining buckets.
Conclusion: It was a long day (or 2?) or travel, but a lovely misadventure and quite a start to my time here. I'm exceptionally grateful to have friends here that I already know (Shout out to Kyu-po and Maddie... thanks again for straightening out the chaos), and looking forward to making more.
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