The Beginning

I thought it would be good to share a few more stories of our adventures here in South Korea. To start, the first night I got into Seoul was pretty stressful for me. Zurich had made a big mistake with my luggage, which I luckily caught before my flight out of Zurich but which wasn't completely fixed. They ended up NOT connecting my luggage with my next 2 flights out of Frankfurt and Beijing. I actually almost missed my flight out of Zurich because I was working with a supervisor trying to fix it. I ended up having to hurriedly say goodbye to Heidi which was really hard and didn't feel right after all our time and adventures together to just give a quick hug and fight back tears to rush through passport control. I left Zurich in the evening so as we were flying out of Zurich I looked down and could see the whole city and lake and river below me. I pointed out several places to myself to reminisce and I realized then that I was actually NOT going to be coming back. It was actually a little sad for me.

I got into Frankfurt and had less than an hour to talk to someone and see if my bags were going to be connected at least to Beijing as well as having to check back in again! And if anyone has been to Frankfurt they know that this airport is HUGE!!! I somehow managed and was able to have someone grab my bags to be put onto the flight to Beijing where I would again have to talk to someone to make sure that they made it to Seoul. This next flight was about 9 hours long but it was a redeye flight so most people fell asleep. They only showed one movie and this was only during the last hour and a half of the flight. I don't know why they did that. I really didn't like the airlines I flew on which was Air China by the way. All the Asians on the flight, which were the majority of people, were wearing those white doctor masks because of fear of getting swine flu I suppose. And they are SERIOUS about it. We all had our temperature checked at least 2 times once we landed in Beijing. We had to wait on the plane for everyone to get checked and then we had to go through a little quarantined area to fill out a health form to see if we were feeling sick. Although I had actually been really sick the week before I did NOT mention this on the health form because they for sure would have had me quarantined and I did not want that. After trying to get my bag situation figured out during the hour I had in Beijing, I was told that my bags were not going to be put on my flight to Seoul but that there were several more flights to Seoul later that night and my bag(s) would be put on one of them. I figured that was the best I could do and hopped on my last flight to Seoul. After filling out another health form and having someone make sure I wasn't carrying the swine flu, I talked to someone about my bags again. They would be here later tonight, I was told, and will be delivered to me in Anseong.

So I sat down to wait for Kaeleen who was supposed to be getting in at 7, which was 2 hours after me. I waited until 7 but no Kaeleen. So I decided to ask the airlines if by any chance my bags had arrived yet. Amazingly, one had arrived! At the same time I heard my name and Kaeleen was calling me. She had been there since a little after the time I got in and was looking for me the whole time! A little Korean man who was there to help us had had my name paiged and everything but I did not hear it. Luckily though, I had one bag and was told the other would be delivered to me in Anseong in the morning. So Kae and I hopped on a bus to Anseong, which was about 2 hours away, and eventually made it after a loooong trip. Cody met us at the bus terminal and took us home where we had something like potstickers and went to bed exhausted. I had been awake for over 36 hours and Kaeleen was somewhere near that as well. We slept a lot the next day!

The next night, Friday, we went out to dinner for our first Korean meal when Cody and Brad were done with work. It was really good! The next day was Saturday and Cody and Brad were hosting a large group of people from Chungju which is where Erin and Isaac live and work. Kaeleen and I were soooo excited to surprise Erin we could hardly wait! Finally, when they were on their way, I went outside to meet Erin and say hello to Isaac. I then told her to come put her stuff in one of the rooms in the house, which was where Kaeleen was hiding. Erin had no idea!! Cody made delicious shish kebabs and we met a lot of new people. We had to walk up a large hill where we played volleyball and badminton. Later, we hung out at the house for awhile, ordered some pizza, and ended up going out downtown for a few hours. It was a great day. Then on Sunday, we took it easy and watched the others play basketball. We went out for Chinese food in Korea, which was also really good. Then the next day Erin and Isaac had to go back to Chungju for work. It had been a great start of our trip!