Korea has Seoul

I’m here!!

After an extremely long day of travel and about 16 hours spent sitting on planes, I’m finally here in my Seoul apartment. The 14-hour Chicago-to-Seoul (west across Alaska, the Arctic Circle and Russia) wasn’t as bad as it could have been and was helped by sitting next to two fellow English teachers who were incredibly friendly. But there’s also something depressing about watching four movies (Baby Mama, Kung Fu Panda, Forgetting Sarah Marshall and, randomly, Kramer vs. Kramer) and STILL having half a flight left. It was uncomfortable to say the least. Definitely one of those flights where I wish I could sleep on-board an airplane.

But finally we touched down in Seoul and Melissa and I found each other easily. Got our luggage and walked straight into a taxi–couldn’t have been easier. Well, there was the small matter of trying to enter Seoul during rush hour that was slightly overwhelming, but we got to SEV around 7:15 last night and, after checking email, went straight to bed.

I’ve only met a couple of people but they’ve both been really friendly and welcoming. The apartment is TINY, actually much smaller than I anticipated with absolutely NO storage space, so it will certainly be an interesting living environment for the next year. Oh well, I’ll make do. It’s also completely empty barring a TV, a fridge and a hot plate. There’s a long list of things to pick up at the store–plates, cups (I wanted tea this morning but realized I don’t have any mugs!), pots…

We have today to rest and recuperate but because of the time change, both Melissa and I were up at 6:30 this morning. We’ll head out later to find a grocery store and explore the neighborhood.

It hasn’t sunk in it all that I’m living in Korea, much less that I’m in one of the world’s biggest cities. Our neighborhood, Suyu, is at the northern edge of Seoul and borders Bukhansan National Park–great hiking right in our backyard–so the neighborhood doesn’t feel as congested as downtown. It will be nice to get to know the area and figure out where we are, because at this point, my impression of Seoul is defined by my apartment and a taxi.

Pictures of the apartment and Seoul to come… Looking forward to a relaxing day today before starting orientation tomorrow morning.

PS: My Internet is in Korean. Look at Google: