The End of the Beginning

It was time for me to head to the gate so I left. A lot of Korean families, foreigners and a few people my age or older traveling alone were already on the line. We went in, this time with no trouble, and I looked for my seat. Since I had an H seat, I was expecting a window seat. When I got to row 34, I saw a girl already sitting next to the window. I quickly glanced at the top display that showed which letter corresponded to which seat. Isn’t that my seat? I asked the girl what seat letter she was sitting on. She looked surprised and said, “Uh…34F, I think.” The man sitting on 34G looked up and said, “This is 34F.” He pointed at the seat next to him. The girl looked confused and looked through her bag for her ticket. “Wow, I fail,” she said as she was half-walking away from her seat and half-looking through her bag for her ticket. She finally found it and I took a look at it. The ticket read 34J. I looked over the seat display on top again and sure enough seat 34J was next to the window. I felt a bit embarrassed for causing a scene so I quickly said sorry to her and took my seat.

The girl next to me was my age…or looked like it. She was a happy looking teen with blondish-brunette hair, eyes dressed in blue eyeshadow, liner and mascara and wearing a T-shirt, sweatpants and flip-flops. I looked out the small window next to her and asked if it was raining. She told me it was raining earlier and it stopped just recently. We didn’t talk for a while but later on she asked me where I was from. After an exchange of a few words, I found out her name was Vicky from Virginia and she’s in college in North Carolina. I think she’s a year younger than me. We talked more and complained how the T.V. wasn’t working. Every seat had a small T.V. screen built in the seat in front of them. We could watch movies from that screen! While we waited for the screen to turn on, Vicky told me about how she ran into so many problems in the airports. Her flight was delayed for 12 hours so after she complained to the airline about it, she got a free hotel room to stay in while the plane was waiting for departure. After that, her next plane was also delayed for a few hours. I was shocked at how much time she had to “waste” just to get to Korea. Well I can’t say JUST to get here because it is a very long trip. I thought 14 hours on a plane was enough but she had to wait another 15 hours in between. While we tried to play around with the remote control to get the T.V. working, I accidentally pressed the button to call the stewardess. She came up to me and asked if I needed anything. My face flushed and I said I made a mistake and she left with a slight annoyance.

We got off the plane finally and proceeded to customs. Since I was a Korean resident, I think it was easier for me to get through. I waited until Vicky got in and we headed to the bag check. After I saw a huge line of carts a bit further away from the bag check, I told Vicky to get two while I wait for our luggage. Her bags had ribbon tied on them. I thought it would be easy to spot but it seemed like every other bag had ribbons on it. Thankfully, I pulled two out that had the same kind of ribbon tied on the handle. They were both hers. We stacked our luggage on our carts (we took advantage of the free carts since in the U.S, it’s about 3 dollars to use one) and headed to the exit. I saw a fair amount of people waiting behind a metal fence. It was just like the movies! I heard from my mom that either my eldest aunt or my third aunt (from the Bronx) was going to pick me up so I looked hard for a female ajumma. Vicky spotted her friend so she left early. After looking around, I finally saw a man holding up a sign that said “Welcome to Korea” printed in script and on the bottom that said “Kim Hyo-Jung.” The man holding it was my uncle and I was a bit surprised. I called out, “Emobu!” and gave a quick bow. It was a bit embarrassing with so many people watching. So, we went out and waited for the bus. It was a long ride…the bridge was so long. I saw it when the plane was landing. It looked fairly long from up there but it’s a completely different story when you’re actually on it.

We got off the first stop, which took about an hour or so. We lugged out my luggage and backpack and we continued to walk. My uncle asked me if I wanted anything to eat. I still had indigestion so I didn’t feel like eating. I shook my head and continued to walk until we got to a green metal door. I almost missed it since it was hidden between a cleaners and a convenience store. The metal door creaked as my uncle and I pushed it open. A narrow concrete alleyway greeted us and we took a right towards the stairs. When we reached the top, there was a door to our right side. Since they live on the top floor we had to open another gate and walk another flight of stairs to reach the house. We finally arrived. My aunt was already there and said hi. I was exhausted and bowed. It was around 11 or 12 at night so Misun was already sleeping. Misun is my female cousin’s daughter. We talked for a bit and ended up watching a video that was recorded in 1992. This was when my family (excluding my brother who was probably still at school) my aunt and uncle and some of their friends went to see some island. It was cool…a blast from the past, literally. I recognized the place they were at because I have pictures of them back at home. It’s weird watching something that you only saw in pictures. After we finished watching it, it was already 1 so we decided to sleep. I was to go straight to Tongyung tomorrow.

The Beginning Part 4

It’s July 15^th now and I’ve been in Seoul for the last week. It’s been hot all day…and decent at night. I’ll continue my story of my plane ride to Korea. The plane ride was just filthy long…I spent 14 hours on my ass trying to find a decent position to sleep in. When I didn’t sleep, I watched the movies playing on the screen (later I found out it was just a projection). I watched Mad Money, or at least most of it. It was entertaining…I suppose. One of those movies you watch when you got nothing else to do. That’s why I watched it XD. After that, Bucket List started to play. It was a great movie! I cried in the end but I tried to hold it back. The stewardesses (in my case steward) started to hand out sandwiches and oreos for a light snack. I forgot how it tasted but as always, I scraped off the white filling of the oreos before I ate them. Later, a Dr. Seuss movie started playing. I think it was about the Whos living on a speck. I LOVED that movie! It had the goofy kind of humor I love~~ Later, the steward started his rounds to serve breakfast. I had the fried rice and beef…more disgusting microwavable food. I was certain that this food was going to give me indigestion or something but I ate it anyway. The guy next to me left for a really long time. I had no idea what he was doing. Maybe he was taking a dump or he found a seat in the back or maybe he was talking to the stewardesses? Earlier, I talked with the white guy that was sitting a seat away. He’s part of the Air Force and he’s on his way to Guam to work as a construction worker. I didn’t talk to him much since he was a seat away and he looked like he didn’t want to talk.

We eventually landed and I had to hurry off to the back of my section of the plane to retrieve my bag. The compartment above me didn’t have enough room for my bag so I had to put it in the back. People started to get up from their seat so I couldn’t go back to my seat to get my other bag. One thing about airplane passengers is that they are usually friendly. When I was trying to get my backpack from the overhead compartment, the guy sitting right below offered to take it down for me. After a few minutes everyone was allowed to get off. I had about 40 minutes or so before the plane to Seoul will depart so I used that time to go to the bathroom and look around Narita airport. As everyone from the plane stood in line to get into the airport, there was a white family that was partially holding up the line. One of the men of the family was frantically searching for his ticket. He was looking through his luggage and his backpack. The Japanese stewardesses watched them and asked if they needed help. After a few minutes, I was already ahead in line. Later I heard one of the females from the family shout, “Oh my gosh, it was in the purse all along.” Sounds like something that I go through all the time…

The airport was a small one, probably because it wasn’t a major airport. There were a lot of booths selling items such as yukatas, magazines, designer bags and jewelry. I took a few pictures of some of the sites I saw around my trip. When I first got off the plane, I went straight to the bathroom. Lo and behold, a bidet was fitted on the toilets. Like all Korean and possibly Japanese public toilets, the doors reach almost all the way to the floor. You get more privacy so it’s nice. I looked at the bidet for a while and decided to try it out. There were the standard buttons: the butt washer, the “bidet” for the ladies, music to cover up any noises, a seat warmer and possibly more buttons but I’ve forgotten them. There were buttons to control the temperature of the seat and the water so it was nice. I tried out the butt washer but for some reason it didn’t reach my butt but just the back of it. Perhaps I didn’t sit on the toilet right…but yeah, it sucked. I ended up with a soggy pair of pants when I came out. It wasn’t too wet but I was sad ;_;.

The Beginning Part 3

After waiting around some more and watching other people go about to their destination, I thought it was a good time to board the plane. I proceeded into Gate A4 and to the carry-on check out. I had a hard time here since I didn’t know I was supposed to take my shoes off and I had trouble putting the handle back into the sp-ed bag. Water isn’t permitted on board (I decided to bring a couple of bottles because of what I’ve read about airplane water which isn't true anymore since they serve bottled water now) so she made me throw it out. I kept walking
until I saw the tunnel that led to the plane. My hands started to get sweaty, something that doesn’t happen too often for me. I guess I was really nervous and excited at the same time. I was seated (18A) and luckily, it was a window seat! I was sitting next to a lady who was heading to Taipei. I saw her ticket when she pulled it out. Either she was really tired or she was meditating because she had her eyes closed the majority of the time. When she was awake, however, she was counting beads. In her seat pocket was a pamphlet with a picture of a monk.

It took a while for the plane to take off (there were some other planes that haven’t taken off yet/incoming planes etc.) so we waited for a good 20 minutes or so. When we did finally lift off, it was such an odd feeling. My heart started to race and the world beneath me started to shrink. The view was amazing… Long Island looked so small. The cars and people were even smaller. I can’t even begin to describe how I felt. It was a mixture of awe and fear. I took a few pictures of the view but it’s not as amazing as the real thing. For others it might be “just a plane ride” but for me, it was an incredible experience.

Because of the delay, there wasn’t much time to get to Gate 30, the gate to Narita, Tokyo. I saw people running but I took my time. I still had a good 10 minutes to walk there. The Detroit airport was amazing. It had a tram running along the upper side of the building. It looked like a life-size toy train! I couldn’t see much but besides that, it looked like any other airport.

I got to the gate and walked in. There was an escalator heading downstairs on the right hand side and a sign saying Couch Entrance leading to the left side. I didn’t see anyone else coming in so I got confused. Was I supposed to go downstairs? I took a left into the entrance and I asked the stewardess, “Am I on the right plane?” Well, DUH, I was but remind you, this is my first time taking an airplane by myself. My seat, 36G, was in the middle of the aisle. It was 2 rows behind the T.V. screen…meaning no window ;_;!! Next to me was an Asian guy, looked around my age and next to him was a buff looking white male who looks a bit older. I put my stuff in the overhead compartment and tried to make myself comfortable. On my seat was a pillow, a blanket, menu and magazines. I took my seat and waited. The announcements were in English, Japanese and Chinese (Mandarin?). At one point, they made an announcement saying that the Air Force One was arriving at the airport. Since I wasn’t near a window, I missed it ;_;. I got tired so I took a nap. I woke up and they served a light snack of pretzels and a drink. I knitted for a while then got bored halfway. Stomp was playing on the big screen but I didn’t watch since I’ve already watched it before. Has anyone seen it? It’s very well made.

Later on, the crew began to serve dinner. The menu offered a beef or chicken entrée. I took the chicken. The food wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great either. It kind of tasted like cheap microwavable food…which it probably was. The cookies were so good though~ It was a Pepperidge Farm cookie. I reminded myself to buy a bag when I return to New York. At this point, I decided to start small talk with the guy next to me. Earlier, I overheard him talking to the white guy about how he had to take a plane to Detroit and then this one to Tokyo and then another plane to Korea. Sounded like the route I was taking. So I asked him if he was headed to Korea. He said yes. Turns out he lived in Florida for 2 years as an intern at Disneyworld. He only had complains about it though…He worked as a lifeguard getting paid minimum wage ($6 something in Florida) and was forced to live in Disneyworld “territory” for $75 a week, which was deducted from his salary. He had to live with 5 other people sharing one refrigerator. Although his English wasn’t great, I still understood what he was telling me. He was a very traditional Korean so he said a lot of stuff about how the workers at Disneyland were racist, Disneyland itself was exploiting foreign-exchange students and how Americans are lazy and greedy. We also talked about the mandatory military service Korean men have to go through. He explained that men can start around the age of 19. He also pointed out that America is more “young” because they don’t have this mandatory service. He’s studying ocean engineering, which I found interesting. “A lot of physics and math,” he said which is something I can’t handle xD. It involves architecture so he knows a few things about it. He criticized the architecture of the Disneyland water park, saying how unsafe it is.

What I found interesting about our conversation is that he told me the military service hinders the studies of students. Since it’s a 2 year commitment, young men tend to forget everything they learned in school. There’s a lot of rigorous work involved (or depending on where you get placed) but in the end, there’s no time for studies. I’ve known that Koreans are very studious but now I see that it’s really serious. We talked a bit more, but I did more listening than talking, which I didn’t mind at all; it was fun. After we ate, we all had to go to the bathroom but the lines were incredibly long. Man, I can’t get tired of the airplane toilet. The suction is so interesting >_>….Anyway, it’s 8:28 pm now. I think we’re still in the North American continent. When we were eating, we were in Canada so I’m assuming we are a bit further in. My laptop is running out of batteries so I’ll stop typing here.

The Beginning Part 2

I had a lot of time to kill since my flight was scheduled to depart around 12:35 to Detroit so what better way to spend it than exploring? I gave myself a tour around Terminal 4 …or at least a part of it. I walked down passing by many stores selling all different kinds of things, ranging from jewelry to cosmetics. I felt like I was at a mall-_-. One particular store caught my eye; it had a display case outside their store. Judging from the interior, it was some kind of massage place. The display case had a bunch of neck comforters that looked like pigs. They were pink and had a pig face on the end. I really wanted a picture of it but there were people standing outside the store. I felt weird taking a picture right in front of them so I walked a bit to the side. However, my efforts were wasted; one of the ladies who apparently work there stopped me. “Store merchandise! You can’t take pictures of them,” she said. She made me delete the picture I just took, which was a picture of the floor. I moved the camera when she scared me. Too bad I can’t show you guys~ It was really cute.

Afterwards, I went to the bathroom. It was still pretty early so the cleaning lady was still there. When I went into the stall I realized there was no toilet paper. Annoyed, I walked out of it and headed to the next one. It also lacked butt wipes. This immediately reminded me of Montréal…EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! WE HAVE NO TOLIET PAPER. Thankfully, the cleaning lady brought her cart filled with refills so I asked her if I can take a roll to bring it with me.
After I left, I toured around the place some more. I was starting to get hungry at this point. I only had water and milk that morning and my tummy was growling. The only place that was reasonably priced and looked decent was a Sbarro’s that was in the vicinity of the bathroom. I ordered a veggie pizza complete with tomatoes, peppers, onions and mushrooms. It wasn’t bad but it was sooo greasy. On the line for pizza were some guys in cameo suits. They probably were taking the plane to some exotic foreign country. I was jealous but then again, I was going to a foreign country too -_-.
I threw away my garbage and proceeded it walk some more. Around this time, I was really tired. I was wearing a hiker’s backpack and (dragging) a small “special-ed” bag that had my laptop in it. I sat on a bench for a while and stared at the decoration above me. There were paper figures strung together in the ceiling. My favorite one was the can of sardines that was spilling out.

Sneak Preview of My Unposted Korean Adventure!

Sneak, sneak:

"June 25^th: I’m aboard the Northwest airplane heading to Tokyo. It’s been a very long day, or it seemed like it. Dad woke me up around 8 am and that gave me time to shower quickly and be out by 9:10. We took the highway to the Whitestone Bridge and then proceeded onward to the JFK airport. I went to Terminal 4 while Dad was trying to find a parking spot. I was really confused at first but after some lady helped me around, I found out that I had to print out a ticket from a machine since I ordered one online. Dad was giving me a hard time since I was a bit slow at this and he doesn’t have patience. I headed to the luggage checkout place (D: forgot what it’s called) and after that, I was done. It was 10:30, I believe. I didn’t officially say bye to my dad since I got angry at him for getting pissed off at me. I was going to go back to check if he was there but the dude who told me which gate to go to was on the way there so it would be awkward if he saw me going back to the entrance of the terminal. I paced around a bit, feeling a bit tense. For the first time in a long time, I felt completely alone. No one was here to help me on my journey back to Korea or with me to experience it. After pacing about aimlessly, I decided to walk down to the first floor."

OOOOOh~!

Serious Post Numero Uno

I kind of hate myself for postponing my blog updates for so long (a few weeks to be exact) only to realize that I have a limited amount of time here. Finishing this blog back home defeats the purpose of keeping you guys updated on how I'm doing. So without further ado, I will now commence! (drum roll)

...Unfortunately, my saved word file of the post that starts at the beginning, the airplane ride here, is back in my laptop (I have about 5 pages written in size 12 Times New Roman font just on the plane ride alone and I'm STILL not done!). I'm in my mom's younger brother's house, typing away at his computer. Today is the anniversary of my grandmother's death on my mom's side. The oldest son has the responsibility of doing this so that's why sons are "sought out for" in Korea. Jesa is serious business for traditional Koreans. So that's why I'm here.

I guess I can talk about what I've been doing the last few weeks. I could summarize it now...but that would ruin the fun, no? All in all, I've spent about 400 dollars (yes, I like to throw money around) and totally enjoyed myself to the fullest. I've been to most of the places that I wanted to go (I've got a few places still on my To-Go list, but I still got 2 weeks) and spending a lot of time with Elizabeth, my fellow foreigner. Well, techically I'm not really a foreigner since I'm a Korean citizen...but come on, 14 years away from my homeland is enough to make me a tourist.

I've learned so much since I've got here. I've finally seen my whole family (both dad's and mom's ...excluding one of my dad's brothers), talked to the next generation of family (most of them a bit annoying but they're kids), learned about the culture, given numerous lessons in English (almost everyone is learning English here) and ate yummy food<3.

I also took a lot of pictures. Most of them are on Elizabeth's camera due to the fact that 1. her camera's much better 2. she has rechargeable batteries and I don't 3. she's got a 2gb memory card, a motherload compared to my puny 256mb one and 4. the camera doesn't die on her every 3 days or so. I've been trying to squeeze the life out of all my batteries (I've got 4 sets of them) by switching them around from time to time.

It's about time so bye!

Later: Well, I've noticed something a bit different from this Jesa and the one we did at home. One, we didn't wear socks. My parents tell me to wear them. Two, we go into another room so my grandma can eat in peace. Okay I really have to go now-_- byeeee