Thursday, July 17th: (I needed to catch the 5:20pm bus)
4:48pm - finished up my work for the day! Changed clothes and began to gather up everything I would need for the trip.
4:54pm - had a visitor come to wish me a safe journey. Gave me her phone number to call if I got into any trouble at all. (John's co-teacher gave me her cell phone to take with me with some numbers preprogramed for me. That was a much appreciated surprise!) Back to quickly finish packing.
5:12pm - Quick good-byes and hugs and left the house.
5:18pm - Arrived at the designated bus stop (I finally found the close one that I'd been searching for!!!) However, the bus did not go past for that round. Waited till 5:26 before hiking (fast!) up the hill to the next bus stop.
5:32pm - arrived at the bus stop at the top of the hill.
5:33pm - the bus was coming up as I approached - left DaeSan
6:00pm - arrived in SeoSan. Was unable to get the direct bus to the airport as planned. Found out that the bus only goes at 3 times: 7AM(not pm), 11am and 2:30pm. They asked if I wanted a ticket for the morning...Absolutely not!! I decided to re-route myself through Seoul to the airport and pray for the best.
6:20pm - left for Seoul. The ticket was a little expensive and I soon found out why. I was riding in a first class bus! Gracious, but the seats were huge even for me!
8:03pm - arrived at Seoul bus terminal. I bought a snack of crackers, mini tangerines, and a box of dinky cookies. It was ~ $4.70 for it. Then, I only ate 2 tangerines since my stomach couldn't handle anything else at the moment. I successfully bought a ticket to the airport and made it to the correct bus for boarding. I was the first one on board. The bus was not started up yet, and the driver stood outside talking. At 8:30 when it was supposed to leave, still no one had boarded and I began to wonder what was going on. I soon discovered that I was the only passenger for that round!! It was quite the experience to be chauffered in a big luxury bus all by myself!
8:33pm - left Seoul.
9:32pm - arrived at Seoul/Inchun airport (the airport is actually on the island of Inchun. It is close to Seoul which is why it is known internationally as Seoul airport.)
After arriving, I checked to find where we'd catch the bus the next morning. Then, I went to the internet area and emailed John to let him know I'd arrived safe & sound. He said that Kendra's flight was running early and may be in as early as 2:30am. After "talking to John," I settled down on a flat bench to to try to sleep. I'd brought along a timer since that was the best thing I had to make sure I didn't oversleep. The longest it went to was 99 minutes, but as it was uncomfortable, the longest time I slept was an hour, and that was only once. It didn't take long for me to desert the bench since it was far too short, so I just stretched out on the cold cement floor and used my backpack for a pillow, with my timer and umbrella beside me. Beyond rousing several times to reposition, I awoke to the timer at 2:30am to check her flight just in case, but the board still said arrival at 4:54am. Back to my floor-bed again. I decided to set the timer for 4am so I'd have enough time to wash up and get rid of that "just-woke-up" look before I scared Kendra into turning right around and boarding the next plane home. When the timer went off, I gathered my things, checked the board one more time...and to my surprise....it said Kendra's flight had already arrived at the gate! Yikes!!! Kicking into high gear, I flew to the restroom, washed up, made myself as presentable as my wrinkled clothes would allow, and then rushed back out to wait for her just on the other side of the security line. I leaned forward, ready to jump up each time the door slid open to allow someone to exit from the luggage area. Then, at 4:40am, I finally saw her coming! Instantly I was on my feet and waving. ...she looked right past me!!!!!! I didn't think I'd changed that much in 4 months!! I waved harder...and then she finally saw me. Gracious, I was right in the front line...she said later it was because there were so many people around. Is there seriously not much difference in my appearance versus all the other Asians??? Now, to hear Kendra's version of it, you'll have to ask her later. :) However, I think we'd both agree that there were lots of hugs and laughter and tears!
Kendra noticed that the bathrooms were the most "conservative" that she's ever seen. What she means is that every stall wall was completely floor to ceiling except for the door which only had a 2-inch clearance from the floor. No way anyone is going to steal luggage in the restroom here! We took a picture in the airport, and then Kendra gave me string of licorice just before we got on the bus. Ahhhh! We can not find licorice here. She brought that instead of chocolate over here for me and that's saying a lot!!!
Friday, July 18th:
5:20am - Left Inchun airport. Ticket was $14.00 for a 1-hour trip to Seoul. We were Soooooo busy talking the whole time!! I think we started a dozen topics without finishing one of them since they each got interrupted, either by ourselves or the other person.
6:15am - Arrived in Seoul bus terminal
6:30am - Left Seoul. Ticket was $6.80 for about 2 hours on a "cheaper" bus. Once on this bus, I got out my remaining snack from Thursday night, and Kendra got her first taste of what we like to call "Korean packaging." Each thing you open must be opened a minimum of two times...sometimes up to 3-4 times until you actually get to the food inside!
8:15am - Arrived in SeoSan. Yeah! I now knew exactly where I was since this is the bus station I come to each Wednesday with James to go to the library. Without incident, (or almost!) we got on our bus. We had an interesting time managing all the luggage onto the bus!
8:30am - Left SeoSan! I called John on Jeong Won's cell phone to ask him to meet us at the bus stop (which is a 15 minutes walk from home.) We didn't want to lug all that luggage home ourselves. Why, Kendra's "purse" (that orange bag above) alone must have weighed at least 30 pounds! I bet if a steward had happened to lift it, he would not have allowed it in the cabin!
9:05am - We arrived in DaeSan!! John was now officially late for work as he waited to help us home. He got the pleasure of carrying Kendra's "purse." We got to point out our favorite stores on the way home. She was rather surprised we had to walk so far. Good orientation! A quick "run" to the store here truly is a run...with your own two feet!!
9:30am - Home at last!!! We had so much fun watching Kendra take everything in for the first time! Her first comment was, "Wow! It looks just like I was expecting, but it's smaller than I imagined!" (According to her, the pictures don't show the actual size well...she says our whole house is about the size of the average hotel room.) I didn't get her first reaction to our bathroom on film. :(
(For point of reference...Kendra is standing in the middle of the largest room of the house. The space you see to the right of her is the space left on the other side as well. Hopefully that gives a little better idea of the room size. Standing in the same spot, Jesse & Joy made a very long card for A. Kendra and we taped it above their room where she could see it from across the room when she walked in the door.)
So for the rest of our first day...
(John went to class.) I took a shower while James, Jesse, and Joy had the marvelous privilege of taking A. Kendra out on the town and introducing her to the fresh bread shop (Paris Baguette)and the underground store.
( apparently James is the photographer! 3rd pic ~ Kendra is popping out the disposable spoon found inside the lid of an icee-cube cup.)
At noon, Kendra ate her first Korean meal and liked it. (It was a very Western-friendly tasting meal, actually. Great for her first one. No squid or whole fish or anything like that! :) It was kimchi, Korean vege pizza, a kind of cabbage, rice and beef soup.)
(Standing on the walkway between the 2 school buildings...The vice-principal has a very green thumb. Posing with the stone children in front of the school.)
After lunch, we visited the computer teacher's room. Her name is "Sun-Hwa" and you will be hearing more about her. Then we came home, rested a little, and then went back over to the school to teach the after-school class for John since he had to go to the island school. Then, back home again to unpack! What a job that was! Each thing must be put away as it got unpacked or else we would have nowhere to walk! A big job and glad it's done! An early evening as Kendra was exhausted and so was I.
(Kendra eating her first bite of kimbap...the kids all waiting around her to see her reaction...which was favorable!)
We are going with SunHwa tomorrow to a beach just over an hour away for the annual "Mud Festival." Sound fun? Sound dirty?? We'll let you know!!
(Kendra eating her first bite of kimbap...the kids all waiting around her to see her reaction...which was favorable!)
We are going with SunHwa tomorrow to a beach just over an hour away for the annual "Mud Festival." Sound fun? Sound dirty?? We'll let you know!!
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