arrival in korea with... snow?

after surviving the 5 hour layover in seattle, the 12 hour flight straight to icheon/seoul, the insane car ride to my apartment; in which the driver got lost for a bit, and my first grocery shopping trip with my co-teacher, i have arrived and am alive in ilsan city.

the 17 hour time difference has messed with my already messed up sleep schedule. i was up for 26 hours before i was able to go to sleep last night. we left portland at 8am on sunday morning and by the time i was able to crawl into my bed it was almost 11pm on monday night. so basically i skipped monday completely. i have the whole day to myself today as it is apparently a national holiday. i plan on hopefully completely unpack all my things and organize them. i also plan on attempting to get more sleep, because i am exhausted. i might venture out today just to look around, but i am a little worried about getting completely lost. and since we all know i am good with directions, it wouldn't be the best idea to get lost in a country where i don't speak or read the language. so i might just wait to explore tomorrow when my co-teacher picks me up for school/the hospital.

and as of last night i already have a to do list... go figure.
- exchange money/figure out stipend from gepik
- medical check
- purchase specific items for my apt. (like toilet paper and possibly some sort of cleaning supply)
- unpack
- write down all my questions for my co-teacher before tomorrow.
- find a freaking pen... i am fairly certain i lost mine in seattle.

i also need to figure out exactly what i need for my apartment. another couple converters would be nice. one just isn't going to cut it for the next year. hangers. i need hangers. i think i have like 10 or so which were in my apt.

when i arrived i was pleasently surprised to have not one, but two sets of bedding. which is apparently hard to find over here. so i am grateful. though i will still be using the sheets i brought because the top sheet cover they have doesn't fully cover the bed. i was also happy to find a rice cooker, a toaster oven, a microwave, some scattered hangers in the closets, some utensils and i think one pot, an iron, a nice desk chair, and some random other things that i haven't actually fully looked at. oh and i have a nice tv, that is hooked up and has working channels, not that i can understand what anyone of them are saying.

i have a washer that is below my stove. which is all in korean. so that will be interesting to figure out. i did manage to find some laundry soap that was left by the last teacher. also... heated floors! it's wonderful. :)

sitting here on my bed watching it dust with snow outside and thinking has made me realize that i am completely out of my comfort zone for the first time in possibly ever. and thinking about it i am both excited and terrified at the same time. i am very much a person of structure and i like things organized and i like to know how things are going to pan out. this experience is basically taking my structure and organization and throwing it out the window. that is the part that terrifies me the most. i am being thrown into a whole new culture. though that makes me excited too! at this point i am a little overwhelmed with everything, sleep deprived and looking at all my stuff and plan to just crawl under my covers and attempt to sleep some more.

once i am unpacked their will be pictures of my apartment.

seattle seattle seattle...

officially out of oregon and currently sitting in the seattle airport waiting to board the flight to seoul...

still not sure how i completely feel about all of this. i think i am still in shock and awe that i am actually going. which is only going to be even more once we get there and it's going to be complete and udder culture shock. i already know this is going to happen. it's inevitable.

people watching is so entertaining, especially with all the asian high school students. their haircuts are ridiculous...

at least 2 more hours of sitting. oh my goodness this is happening...

sweet serendipity...

minor panic attack when i woke up this morning... I LEAVE FOR SOUTH KOREA IN TWO DAYS!!!!
yep... just a minor one. thankfully calmed myself down and went to town on my to do list for today.

it started out looking something like this:

TO DO
- Call
-Progressive
-Great Lakes
-The Arrival Store
-Discover
- Get Suitcase out of Storage
- Family Pictures
- Sheets
- Print Itinerary for Mom
- Go through paperwork
- Backup Computer
- Get Addresses/Buy Address Book
- Music from McKenzie
- Email Blog
- Return Jillian's Books
- La Roca Burritos

i have made all my phone calls, returned jillian's books and said my final goodbye to her (without crying!), got the music from my sister, pictures are in 30 mins. after pictures with the fam and then my sister it's off to run a bunch of errands, including getting the suitcase, address book, sheets and hopefully the burritos.

tomorow i am driving back to my aunt's house, where all of my stuff is. finalize packing things, see my cousin before i leave, deal with the bank, and finally finish everything. then it's the last night with the fam, including my final steak dinner!

picture time :)

going barefoot and crazy...

revamp of the blog in preparation for my new adventure to south korea i believe is done. or at least the big part of it is done! it turned out to be way more difficult than i thought it was going to be, including losing some of my information, but it's done. another thing off of my ridiculous to do list.

speaking of to do list. i can also cross off the new bank account i needed to open. did it over the internet today. now comes the process of transferring everything over there. including my loans. which i get to start paying back right after i get to korea. lucky me. i have gone 7 months without paying them and would rather not have to pick up where i left off again. at least i now will only have two companies instead of three.

this is going to be my last week of work... sort of bittersweet and exciting at the same time! it is going to be interesting to see how things pan out this week.

i am super super excited for wednesday night! POST SECRET at oregon state with jillian! it's going to be amazing!!!!!! then korean food with my boss and coworkers thursday night and my final day of work friday... it's all coming up so fast.

14 days.... completely insane.