Hello Busan!

Almost 24 hours ago, while sitting at the Incheon International airport, I wrote a quick facebook note to let friends and family know how all my traveling had gone.

Now that it's 1:00 in the morning here in Busan, and I'm wide awake, I'd like to repost that note on blogger and expand a little.

Traveling was hectic, frantic, exciting, stressful, awful, and wonderful all at the same time.

There were several instances when I thought I missed my flight, or lost my tickets, or something horribly stressful like that. Luckily none of that happened and everything went off with out a hitch, mostly.

Some Travel Highlights:

1.) Running back and forth between terminal 3 and TBT (3 buildings apart, outside access only) at LAX because Asiana airlines wanted a receipt from Delta that Delta didn't seem to want to give me. After being sent practically all over LAX (which is like a small city, by the way) I finally retrieve the tickets just in time!

2.) I get lost at Incheon Int'l airport. When I finally figure out where I am I realize I'm in the wrong place. Yes! Customs was intimidating, the customs officer told me that I have to learn Korean. Shock... I stood there staring at him thinking that he was going to send me back through the gate and deny me entry into the country. I told him meekly that I was learning. Then he smiled and I realized he was semi-joking... I think.

3.) I get lost again. When I figure out where I am my bags decide to fall off the cart in the middle of a crowd...twice No one helps. I didn't expect anyone to, it's a big city international airport after all. It seems like people in huge cities are always too busy to help someone. That's okay, I looked like an clumsy idiot foreign girl... I'll get over it. Besides, I think I really amused some guys watching from a ways away because they were laughing pretty hard around the time I was dragging my heavy suitcases back onto the cart. Maybe I made their day. Superwoman, yeah!

4.) When I get to the counter for the airline flying to Busan I'm informed that I have to pay an extra baggage fee, again. Er. Why? There wasn't really any explanation other than "It's a different flight" which didn't make any sense to me because it was the same airline. Oh well.

5.) I got stopped for bag check... twice. The first time a really nice security officer and I stared at two cans of my hairspray for a minute or so. I'm not entirely sure what we were trying to figure out about them, but he was satisfied with my explanation that they were the same brand different hairsprays. I think he was wondering why in the world I would need 2 huge cans of hairspray. I don't blame him. I wonder the same thing myself sometimes.

The second bag check was at a security check point. A security officer looked through my carry on. Nothing interesting happened, though he did find my pencil case, a case I'm quite proud of, so hey, I got to show it off.

Oh and I just remembered, I got the pat down at LAX because of my sweater. Apparently hooded sweaters are suspicious. But hey, that's okay with me. They're obviously doing their best to insure my safety and the safety of others.It's their job to be suspicious. They were really nice about it and surprisingly the whole situation was not as awkward as I thought it was going to be.

6.) The seat I was assigned for the 12 hour flight to Seoul from LAX was last row aisle. It was AMAZING! I got to lean back as far as I wanted to without worrying about bothering the person behind me. I was right near the bathroom at the back which wasn't used too often and was convenient, especially with me not having to climb over anyone.

7.) Food on the plane was great.

8.) I actually got to sleep for about 7 or so hours.

And, like I said when I originally wrote this note... there have been ups and downs, negatives and positives, but it's been some kind of experience and honestly, I wouldn't change a thing.

In Busan

Stepping off the plane in Busan was a wonderful experience. First of all I was thinking "No more planes for a long time! Yah!" Flying and traveling is fun until you've been doing it for 27 some odd hours.

The Irate Gentleman and the Baggage Clerk

After getting to bag check I stand and wait for a while for the bags to come through. An older gentleman standing next to me pulls his golf clubs off of the baggage belt, puts them on the cart, then promptly yells angrily to a young man monitoring the baggage claim. Now, I have no idea what they were saying but I'm not stupid, I figured it out. The older gentleman was quite irritated that there was dirt on his golf bag. He was so loud that he attracted the attention from everyone else waiting for their baggage. Almost everyone was staring at these two. I scooted away a little. When the yelling got louder, I scooted away a little more.

The baggage clerk could only bow his head and say meekly "I'm sorry". What else could he do? It wasn't his fault the bags were dirty, and he probably had no idea WHY the bags were dirty. But he was polite and he took being yelled at with some glint of dignity. There was no fist fight, no bruising or spilling of blood. Thank goodness.

I have to say, in my very honest opinion, the older gentleman went a little overboard. But hey, I wasn't about to say anything. Not even close.

The bags were dirty, though. Even mine. But all you had to do was pat and brush at it and the dirt went away. Not exactly the end of the world.

Meeting the Director and going to School

The director from the SLP school met me outside of the baggage claim doors. I was shocked. I had been expecting to see this short, gray haired, balding, aging, gentleman with glasses. The only part I got right in my mental image were the glasses. Not only was the director young with a full head of black hair, he was...gigantic. He towered above me and when we finally got into the car he had to scrunch forward to see out the windshield. Needless to say, I was intimidated.

But, he turned out quickly to be really nice. We attempted conversation in the car, and that went pretty well, but his English is limited and my Korean is downright dismal. There were plenty of long silences. He showed me around the little area where the school was (I'll put up some pictures later, don't you worry), then we went up to the 6th floor of a building near the bank, my new work place.

We're greated by the sound of screaming laughing children, and the director puts his fingers in his ears to singnal 'so noisy' and says "The children." I just grin and nod. The elevator doors open and I'm greeted with bright colors, happy pictures, and a line of rowdy kindergarden children getting ready to go to class. I am instantly in love with this place.

I meet some of the other foreign teachers, including the one I'm replacing. My fist impressions of them are... they're extremely approachable and friendly faced. You know what else? They look happy. YEAH! That's what I want to see, happy faces.

The head teacher, the one who interviewed me for the job, arrives and goes over everything with me. I get a schedule and plenty of other reading material to look over (which I haven't yet, because I've been sleeping since I got to the motel). Then it's 'see you tomorrow' and off we go again.

The Motel

I'm staying in a motel during my training period. The teacher I'm replacing is remaining here to help train me and get me prepared to do my best, and I'm moving into his apartment so I've got to have a place to stay until he leaves.

The motel is... interesting. Though I've never seen a Korean love hotel before, I couldn't blame anyone who mistook Propose as one of them. Yes, that's the name of the motel. "Propose". The walls are pink with sparkles, the giant bathtub is laden with sparkles... the room is small but they managed to fit in a huge plasma TV, very nice computer with a large screen and a bed that could fit at least four (though the matress is roughly a concrete slab with 1/2 inch padding.) Am I complaining? No, not really... well, maybe about the bed, but other than that I'm grateful to have a place to stay, free of cost.

Positives? Internet is free, there's plenty of hot water and tissues (in adorable decrative boxes), the comforter is pretty, and everything seems extremely clean.

Anything else?

Oh yes. The people at Radio Shak apparently have NO idea what they're talking about. After about 45 minutes in their store gauranteeing me they'd found what I needed, they finally convinced me to buy two electrical adapters and watage/voltage converters. Guess what ladies and gentleman, they don't work. Not even close. Not only can I not plug them into the wall, I can't plug any of MY stuff into them because one of the holes is too small. Brilliant.

I have internet in the motel, so it's not such a huge problem that I can't use my computer yet. But my hair straightener... oh goodness. Not being able to use my hair iron means poofy, curly/frizzy hair that's practically out of control. Oh well, I figure if everyone at work gets used to me looking like I don't know how to use a hairbrush they'll just be all that more surprised when I stared coming to work groomed. There's always a plus side, right?

That's all for tonight.

Look forward to more, I'm positive that tomorrow will offer plenty of interesting things to blog about.