The Other Beginning

I keep noticing how Hyo's reminiscing or rather reenacting her trip to Korea so I thought I'll do that too... for lack of anything else to write today-_-;;;
Unlike Hyo, my flight was in the night.....

May 15, 2008 (date of departure from New York, JFK)

My flight boards around 11:30...>_> Plenty of time to write in you.

This entire day I felt worried and already homesick ( so I stayed in bed a lot). What I packed was so little ( felt dirt poor>_>)

.... I'm glad I got to meet mom before departure. I almost couldn't.
And strangely, all the fear I felt at home disappeared.

The night is really beautiful when you ride in the car....
It's hard to explain.. A proof that I'm actually going somewhere.. Or maybe it's just this feeling finally moving and doing something. For the first time in years.. I feel so alive and happy.
.... Yeah.. all I feel is excitement and happiness>_>...
a bit bad that mom couldn't get to go but right now I'm too overflowed and powered by the giddy feeling.
.. but i'll definitely send her.. one day.. maybe
45 more min to go. lol<3>_> ... with a country accent.. (like Hyo.)
Ok. excitement dulled down. Now dangerously tipping to boredom and maybe uneaseo_o!.
Oh yeah. I hope I don't miss all the summer mailx_x from school. I don't wanna fall behind work... And piano books><.. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Scratch what I said about excitement-_- This was a very long tiring flight... I felt stuffy.... Does this mean I'm in bad shape?(health?) Oh crap>_>.. must start eating macrobiotic diet like crazy...

May 18, 2009 ( date of arrival in Korea, Incheon )
The flight ended in 13hrs and 19 min. (19 cause it was really dark and stuff... or maybe cause they can't fly over N. Korea?)
And there I said fare... I didn't get to ... but I regret that.
The person sitting next to me was a woman from Philadelphia, PE going to Korea to visit her dying mom.I lost her somewhere along the checkout point. She went through the Korean side and I went through the longer lined.. foreigner side.
The guy in the outer seat managed to sleep all throughout the ride-_-.. (cept for meals..) Strangely I kept running into him in various areas of the airport including checkpoint, baggage, etc. We arrived at Korea around 4:19 am (Korean time).
Anyway I managed to get out:) filling out al those needed stuff with no problem. and even managed to leisurely call my mom. (although 2.14 /min rate x_x!) But I guess I was desperate since I didn't know who would pick me up and how........at all.. I had an inkling it was my aunt (mom's little sister) and uncle (husband of aunt).. but they lived closer to Gimpo airport not Incheon....
*Thinking about it now... I'm a bit mad. My parents are to lax that their affection borders along the lines of not caring. Such useless beings*
(@_@ I always feel so hungry since coming here.. as I barely ate anything on the plane...)
And in the baggage claim area ( which took forever), my mother told me my 이모부 (uncle) told her to tell me to ride to Gimpo on a bus.......
I guess I was feeling too surreal to have this piece of news upset me... so I managed to find a way to a bus...but not before I went to the bathroom.. where I layed my eyes on .. a toilet which the seat revolves around with new plastic wrap ...... after every use... I was amazed.>>
So outside the airport near the bus terminal I managed to find my way to the ticket 아저씨. He was nice and even gave me a cheaper ticket that cost 5,000W ( The regular was 6,*** W but still>_>). I think it was partially due to him mistaking me for a jr high school kid.................. but oh well..
I also met a girl who was 26 years old ( but she looked like she was my age.. which believe it or not is 19)
She lives in LA but came from NY on Korean Air. She was debating whether to go to Gimpo or MoDong? (모동?). ( She was a couple days early and planned to meet up with friends and party first before going home.....)
Anyway our lovely chat was interrupted when she saw the bus headed for Modong? and ran for it giving me a quick farewell~ It was a very short meeting but it was very ... awesome.
And I rode the bus.
The air felt so fresh<3>* Or maybe it's due to all the mountain and sea surrounding Korea*
As we rod ( 5 AM) the pink (yea it was pink!) Sun began to rise.. I thought it was soooo beautiful as it reflected in the rice paddy waters.
I ended up getting off too early and landed in 김포국제공항. (Gimpo International or something. It was a seperate builing from the 국네공항.National Domestic whatever.. The main building.
And it was connected to Sky Mall. None of them were open-_- ( ah.. hungry) And I wandered around awhile... and asked a guy why none of them were open. The guy said as a matter of factly.. "Cause it's morning.." I somehow expected it to be open 24/7. since... it is an airport..?=_=;;; hm
Ayway I managed to find a public phone.. It was mad empty and there was one.... Korean soldier.. on guard...>_>;;;; Anyway I managed to call 이모부. and he and 이모 came to pick me up. But they took some time.. and I spent that time straining myself to look at CNN while I felt the guard looking at me very awkwardly>>;;;..cause I think it surprised him when all of a sudden I spoke English after speaking Korean... when I looked Korean.
Overall, I think I felt nervous. Cause I felt like I was staying just out of.. er like I would be a burden to their normal life, etc....
It had been...8? years maybe when I last saw them. The car ride was so strange. I was scared but .. the atmosphere told me they .. were very lax?... I can describe it but they felt natural.
It was 6 am when we got back. The distant yet vaguely familiar apartment complex came into view and we went up to the 6th floor.. and.. opened the door. I got nervous again. Thinking of my cousins.. I shared a long time with the older girl when she was 2... something she'd probably have forgotten by now. And I never met the younger brother.... Opening the door, a bundle of fur... invited me in with it's jumping and ...wagging it's tail. Dogs.. really are the best animals for making anyone feel welcome..
Aunt and Uncle went back to sleep and I .. since I couldn't stayed up with the dog waiting. Jisu (older cousin, 4th grader female. English name : Sue) and Jong Jin ( 1st grader youger male. English name: Erik came out of the room.. awakening for their Saturday school..
They are so cute>_>.. but I get shy and they get shy so interactions are....
This was so much easier when I was a kid;_;....
And their dog.. is cute~_~. The whole family is a .."dog" family. Mnnn.....The whole Sat til 1:00 ish aunt and uncle slept. The kids went to school.
For an hour? maybe? I went around the neighborhood (one street up and down). One was ...felt like a dead end as there were only highway like roads for cars.. The others... all the stores were closed.
Bleh.
Then we ate lunch. ( I was hungry by then)
And at 3, we went out to get Blackie's (dog) haircut. And we went to Issan Park.. So many flowers and couples.. I hated it.
But I liked the walk. I didn't like the day. It felt like a watery dry and midsun clouds. Like jusk make up your mind to the weather.
For dinner, we ate chicken bbq. I liked it. It felt so yummy. Some were hot (even hot for a Korean) but it was so yummy.

The italics are pieces of my diary and bold is ... the missing pieces that's all been in my brain>>...
I use a lot of fragments;_; But yeah.. that was my beginning...<3............ I wanna go again=_=;