WE MADE IT!!!

Good evening from South Korea! I just woke up and it's now apparently evening and we've just slept all day. I'm headed back to bed but not before I blog ; )

I literally can not believe we're here! It's just so different then anything I've ever experienced the sights, sounds, smells... but let me start at the beginning, we left Detroit on Wed Dec. 2 drove to GR, GR to Chicago, flew out of Chicago @1am, arrived at Incheon,SK 5:30am Friday Dec 4th...so strange. The flight was exhausting to say the least but the food was GREAT! Def. recommend Asiana just not the very last seats in the tail of the plane. It was pretty loud engine wise and with the hustle and bustle of the gorgeous Korean model-like stewardesses. But it was nice to just get on one plane instead of having to make any connections especially with so much luggage. "so much luggage" being defined as 3 50-lb duffel bags and only one overweight but still allowed 70lb bag. Immigration was a joke compared to the US or any other country I've been too, didn't even ask us any questions just stamp stamp and on our way thankfully. Found our bags easily locks in-tacked and walked out to the main part of the airport to look (more like be found by) someone who would pick us up and take us to a hotel or wherever we're going. Yes, the details were actually that sketchy. We immediately spotted a guy holding a sign with Benjamin Nanney on it and with much relief we he greeted us in English and took us to his car. Between our bags and us we compltely filled his nice little GM/Daewoo car. Finding out we were from Detroit he told us his father has worked in the GM/Daewoo plant in Incheon for 50 some years. He was a a nice guy, 28 or 29 couldn't exactly figure it out but Koreans are ages are always off because when you're born you're already 1 year old and then he told us every 10 years you add another year or something so who knows but he def. didn't look almost 30 thats for sure.
So we started driving off the island, Incheon airport is on an island, sadly we landed in the wee hours of the morning in the dark but I'm sure it would have been beautiful in the light. The mountains just pop up right out of hte water even in the dark you can see their shapes. As we drove he chattered on and in our exhausted daze we thought he kept mentioning Thailand, something about it being 3 hours away... all of the sudden we were like huh what?!?!? THailand?!?? Although he had lived in Canada to learn English it was still difficult to understand. At that point all I could think of was we don't have drugs so this can't become and episode of Locked up Abroad where they take you to crazy places its not possible! He kept saying he talked to the director of the school etc and he would meet us there so we knew he knew where he was going its just we didn't get the memo. He drove us 3 hours with one pit stop to grab a latte, some rice crackers and Ben's drink selection "Cherry Tomato Fruit Punch", he didn't see the tomato part and thought it was just fruit punch, but it actually tasted really good. tomato-ey but fruity and sweet. I go to use the restroom and the first stall I pick I'm mortified to find its a squatter and I was like oh no I was warned of these in public places, so i picked another one and that was a real toilet. Girls, let me just say they like a toilet with bells and whistles, it had a selection of 12 buttons on the side and the seat was heated!!! hahaha! alas I could not figure out how to flush it and knew that if I started hitting buttons something bad would happen. I did however see the beday (sp??) button and thought if I accidentally hit that and toilet water comes flying out at me I'm not sure what I'll do. so I opted for the get out of there as fast as possible method.

So we arrived at our hotel for the nite, Ben and I being told before we left that we would be staying with the American HR director for a few days then move into our apt. So we go with the flow, we are staying at "Edelweiss Hotel" located right on a beautiful river with this bridge that is all lite up at nite. The drive into the mountains was amazing amidst my drifting in and out of sleep. There was heavy fog but it started lifting when the sun warmed up and it's just beautiful here. The hotel is very nice from the outside, its a tourist hotel so I would think much nicer then the average Korean hotel but by American standards definitely not a 5-star by any stretch. the view is worth it though and it's true! the floors are heated!!!

well I'm starting to get sleepy again so back to bed I go. We have to be up and ready to meet with the director of the school tomorrow @ 10am. He told us he is going to take us shopping or something and move us into our home! YAY! oh yea and when we got to the hotel they said ok get what you need for one nite and director will take the rest of your luggage. Ok, so you're going to stand here while I dig through my bag that is now sitting in the dusty dirty parking lot ground and pull out my underwear, really?!?! ok so not the end of the world but awkward to say the least. Instead I said I opted to take my whole bag up with me but he had already grabbed Ben's... so he'll be wearing the same thing again tomorrow. At least we were able to take a shower and feel human again!Ben was also told he/we will get a week of training because they did not think he was ready to teach yet, whew! relief. He was suppose to start Monday morning so now at least we have a week to settle in, get adjusted, and go through some training.

I'll write again soon unless we can't find an adapter!


nite from SK ya'll!