Hola From Seoul

I am finally in Seoul. Proof: I stained my shirt with kimchi ramen at dinner last night.

So far so good. Seoul is an amazing city with beautiful people. I have really enjoyed my first two days here, although I have not had much free time to get out and explore.

I am still finding it hard to believe that I am actually here, in South Korea, whoa! My flight here was ok. The day or two before I left I went into totally pre-departure panic mode, but I think I kept it together pretty well. Before I leave for any big adventure or trip panic mode sets in and I have a mini freak out stress-fest break down. Am I crazy for leaving everything and everyone I know behind? What am I doing? Did I make the right choice? But I think this is all a fairly normal reaction to moving to a new place, let alone a completely foreign country. (Sorry family if I was crazy this last week.)

My flight left at the crack of dawn friday morn. I always seem to have really random, unlucky things happen to me, and friday morning was no exception. I woke up to find that a mosquito had bitten my eyelid during the night. So I had to begin my trip with one eye swollen and red. It looked like I had crazy intense pink eye. Perfect for meeting new people. Anyways, my whole family woke up at 4 am to drive me to the airport. And like every other flight I have ever taken, I made it with only a few minutes to spare. Just enough time to check in, say goodbye, and then awkwardly say goodbye again through the glass walls. Also, my good friend Katie got up with the sun and met me at the airport before I left, she's pretty freakin amazing. (Thank you Katie for the wonderful card and send off.)

My flight from yakima to seattle was a little rough. I was happy to make it to seattle without puking coffee up everywhere. From Seattle to San Fran was a little smoother, except for the lady behind me that kept comparing our plane to the Titanic. She was sure that our pilot had no idea what he was doing and that we were all going to die. From San Fran to Korea was.......long, very long. The food was sick, my tray table was broken and the movies were ok. I watched Salt, Cyrus and Twilight, yes you can make fun of me now haha. Then I slept and slept and slept, and 13 hours later I was in KOREA, yay!!!

Luckily I made it through immigration, retrieved my luggage, bought a bus ticket and found my bus stop really easily. While waiting for the bus I noticed a guy about my age, looking pretty lost, and reading from what appeared to be the same arrival paperwork I had. I am generally pretty outgoing, and when traveling abroad I loose all shyness. Turns out he was in my program and we soon met another girl that was also in Chung Dahm with us! It was really nice not be alone while taking the bus to the City Air Terminal and then taking a taxi from there to our hotel. And the girl, Victoria (ps she's super friendly and fun) is one of my roommates at the hotel for the week. I have two other roommates here. AND lucky for me one of them is Korean American, so she has been showing us around, translating, helping us order food and showing us how to navigate the subway system. I really feel spoiled!!!

Today was the first day of training. blaaah. We had tests, and tests and more tests. And then we had to go to the hospital here in Seoul for even more tests; blood test, urine tests (way different than in the states, gross!), hearing tests, color blind/vision test, chest xrays and blood pressure. It was a very long and stressful day. Wish me luck in passing all of the tests. Besides the endless tests, I did get to meet the other teachers that are also training this week. So far they are all very cool, its nice to be with such positive, friendly people. There is just an overall excitement about being here.

Anyways, I should be studying for training tomorrow, blah. Korea is amazing and I wish you could all be here to experience this with me.

I miss you all very much. Please take care of yourselves and each other. And please be in touch.