Return to Seoul

I had an early, early morning. My alarm woke me at 4:30 and I was out the door a little bit before 5, surprisingly ahead of schedule. (Luckily I had packed my glasses so that saved me some time!) I met the taxi I had "ordered" the evening before from the hotel and we were off to the airport. There was no traffic (seeing as it was 5 am on a Sunday...) and we arrived at the airport after about 20 minutes, while it had taken us about an hour the afternoon before. I had given myself a cushion thinking there might be at least some kind of hold up, but since there was none, I arrived way ahead of schedule and figured I could have slept a little bit more.

I checked in and went through security with no hitch. Then it was just waiting for my flight. I found my seat and then was asked by the older Korean couple if I could swap seats with them because their friend was sitting directly in front of me. At first I hesitated; my bag was directly above me and as we were going to be taking off soon all the compartments were closed. It seemed like it would be a hassle moving my bag, but then the man said he'd move my bag for me. For the whole 6 hour flight I was in and out of sleep. At one point I did wake up and the ajuma covered me with her jacket which was nice.

We landed and I took off for home, unhappy with the cold and rainy weather that greeted me in Seoul. About an hour after leaving the airport I arrived at home. I had a package waiting for me-a belated Christmas gift! My friend Brian sent me a Doctor Who (one of my favorite TV shows) themed scarf and hat. He also sent me files for all of newer shows! What a great gift and welcome home.

I cleaned up and unpacked a little bit before heading to Hapjeong to meet Dong Gun. I decided after eating Thai food for the past 9 days I really wanted Korean food! I picked jjimdak, not thinking about how it's chicken with noodles (which I love) and that I've been eating noodles all week! It was delicious nonetheless and the kimchi on the side definitely helped remind me I was eating Korean food. We had a good time talking at dinner and decided to get something to drink after dinner. We walked to Hongdae and went to Xylophone, the place we went for my birthday. Both of us talked about where our travels have taken us and what places we really enjoyed. He talked about his experience learning English and that his first foreign teacher in college sparked his interest and desire. He commended me for teaching elementary students and said that I was inspiring young kids in ways that I might not even know. That was really nice. We also joked that I should be Dong Gun's tour guide since he's new to Seoul and doesn't know it well and made plans to meet again on the weekend so I can tour him around.

My Christmas package!

Dong Gun and me in the subway