................Taking Flight...............: New Years Eve and Hong Kong!

I came to work and the textbook was finally here! I didn't have a lot of time to prepare my lessons because I left work early to catch my plane. I just got some activities together for Monday and then took off.

Normally I haven't experienced a lot of waiting at Incheon, even security and such, but today, it seemed like the whole world was traveling. I started freaking out a little bit watching the time tick by and the line inch too slowly. However, I still made it with plenty of time to spare-I think I had an extra 30 minutes before we even started boarding, but I promised myself I wouldn't cut it so short next time. I'd rather have more time than be concerned about having enough time! Mike and I met up and waited a little before hopping in the enormous line to board.

We both watched a movie on the ride and had a meal served as well. The flight wasn't too bad-about 3 hours long. After getting off the plane, we first went to go rent a cellphone, but apparently they were all out of those, so we were redirected to rent a SIM card. Well, Mike is already renting a SIM card for his stay in Korea, so we ended up putting it in my phone. It was relatively cheap; I think about 18$ for 5G of data (and we were there for 5 days). Then, we went to take a bus to our hostel. We asked at information and she told us we should get some transportation cards and directed us to a different counter. There, we purchased "Octopus Cards" that worked just like the T-Money here; subway, bus and convenience store purchases. We then found our bus and took about an hour ride to our destination. We checked in and changed and then went out to find dinner and explore. First we went to the "Times Square" which was just a big shopping mall. I looked up places to see the New Year's Eve fireworks and we were directed to head towards the Harbor. So we set off, using google maps to help us. We got there and walked around and picked a place that we liked. Then, we went to find a restaurant to do take-out so we could eat by the Harbor. We found a place and ordered 3 dishes, thinking they might be kind of small-they were not and we had so much food! It was all pretty good. Anyway, we had our food and sat on some steps with a big crowd. As we continued eating and waiting, more and more people came and we figured we picked a decent spot to watch the fireworks.

Finally the countdown started and it appeared in lights on a building across the Harbor from us. And at midnight the fireworks went off-it was right in front of us, all along the Harbor. So very, very cool! They lasted about 10 minutes and was a great show!