99.5

That's how many pounds of luggage I schlepped halfway around the world. Dropping my bags off Thursday morning I was ecstatic. "Yes I made it! No charges for me!" Picking the bags up Thursday evening I was in pain. "How could I have possibly packed so much stuff??"

The flight was uneventful and quite painless, despite the slightly crotchety older Korean man next to me who refused to get up any time I had to go to the restroom which resulted in many awkward lap crawls across three seats. I do have to say the food on Korean Air is probably the best airplane food I've ever had. Customs and immigration was truly uneventful and remarkably quick, although the Korean government now has my photo and fingerprints on file in case I actually carry through on all those crimes I was planning to commit. The real adventure began next.

First, let me just talk about these luggage carts. I knew from my travels in Europe that luggage carts are free and widely used (something America should really catch up on). But the Korean carts were something else. I couldn't use the damn things at all!! After about 15 minutes of playing Tetris with my luggage and the cart, I figured it out. But I felt a bit like an American idiot as all these Koreans mastered them easily and then just started at me.

Now I was a bit worried about being able to find my boss once I arrived. He assured me not to worry and that he would find me. About an hour later, I began to think that wasn't true. So I'm alone at the airport in Korea with 100+ pounds of stuff, what to do? After walking up and down the terminal for a while, peering at various groups of people with hopeful smiles, I decided to page them over the intercom. Still no luck. By now it is 7:00 pm and i have been at the airport for 2 hours. I found a computer to use the Internet and sent my boss and email letting him know where I was and asking for his phone number. He responded immediately saying he thought my flight was arriving the next day and he would be there in two hours. TWO MORE HOURS HERE?? No way. He then decided I should go find the taxi stand, ask them to call my boss, and then he told them where to go. As I slid into the back of the cab, I finally relaxed.

About 10 minutes later the cab driver starts saying something, getting more and more urgent every time he repeated himself. "CHUN! CHUN!" I frantically said "mo-na-ra-dut-kke-sso-yo" or "I don't understand" and he kept yelling "CHUN BLAHBLAHBLAH CHUN!!). Let me tell you, getting yelled at by a Korean cab driver when you have been awake for more than 28 hours is not a pleasant experience. I figured out what he meant eventually (there was a toll booth and he needed the money to pay for it) but it was an experience.

Finally I arrived at my boss's apartment where I will be staying for a little bit while we search for an apartment. I blissfully slept for about 5 hours until the time difference hit me and I ended up wide awake at 1:00 in the morning. An eventual first day in Korea to say the least.

xo Julie