My first day in Korea

My journey began at Tucson International Airport. I had to board a flight to Las Vegas where I would catch another flight on Korean Air to the Seoul Airport. The flight to Las Vegas was a little rough but luckily I took some air sickness pills before the flight. Unfortunately I thought they were chew tablets, and boy did I learn my lesson. Never try to chew tablets that you are supposed to swallow, they taste absolutely disgusting. When I got to the Las Vegas airport I had to pick up my bags, and then find the international terminal. I was actually getting a little worried while I waited for my bags, that place was a mad house. I think I packed way too much, one of my bags weights 50 lbs, the other 28lbs, plus a backpack and laptop and I was coming pretty close to my own body weight. I had to ask directions to the international terminal because I was completely lost in that airport. Once I found the right shuttle I passed through security and waited for my flight.

My first taste of Korea was when I boarded the plane. As soon as I stepped on, I knew I wasn’t in America anymore. A handful of beautiful Korean Stewardesses were busy pouring drinks and preparing snacks for the coming flight. I found my seat right next to an ajumma (old lady) and sat down. We talked for a bit and I offered to trade seats with one of her relatives so they could sit next to each other. The flight itself wasn’t too bad, I slept on and off so it didn’t seem that long. Dinner consisted of Bibimbap. Being a waygook (foreigner) the Stewardess gave me a little card explaining how to enjoy Bibimap.


Breakfast consisted of an omelet which was surprisingly very tasty. When I finally landed in Seoul 13 hours later, I was very tired and sore. I passed through Immigration with no problems, then picked up my bags and headed for Customs. They put my bags through an x-ray machine and sent me on my way. After that I changed some American dollars into Korean Won and went to find a payphone to call my boss.

I called him and here’s how the conversation went.

Me: David, I’m at the Incheon airport
David: Hi Kevin, that was fast
Me; I will get on the bus to Suwon, will you be there to meet me?
David: Yes, get on bus I will be there a little later
Me: Ok bye
David: Bye

I had to ask someone for help to find the correct bus. I stepped outside and the first thing that I noticed was all the fog. You can’t really see it in this picture but it was VERY foggy.


The bus ride took longer than it was supposed to, traffic was pretty bad. It should have taken 40 minutes but actually took about an hr and a half. A female voice came over the speakers (we had a male driver) and she announced we were at Suwon. At this point almost everyone got up and handed the bus driver the bus ticket. What a weird thing to do, why hand the bus driver your ticket when the bus ride is over??? Anyway, the bus driver helped me get my bags and left. I looked around in the middle of a very busy street and realized David was no where to be found. The first thoughts of “what the heck am I doing here” started to creep into my mind. Here I am in a COMPETELY different country with no friends or family on a busy street I have absolutely NO idea where I am and I’m starting to get a little worried here. This is what I saw.






I called David again at a payphone and said I was at the correct bus stop. He had a hard time hearing me and for some reason the payphone kept hanging up in the middle of our conversation. David finally asked me if he could talk to someone who spoke Korean. I saw a man sitting at a table and asked him for help. He obviously had no idea what I was saying but picked up the phone said a couple things to me in Korean and handed it back. All I heard on the other line was a dial tone. At this point I was starting to get pissed. I called back David and told him to come pick me up, he heard the panic in my voice and said “I will be there in a little bit”. I hung up and waited. Five minutes later he showed up and drove me to the school. I was dropped off in my apartment, introduced to the other waygook (foreign) teacher named S. (name deleted just going to use first initial). We then left the apartment building to grab some food, and David left S. and myself alone to get to know each other. He than began to teach me about Korean culture and the foreign teacher I was replacing…

S. informed me that when a Korean guy says “I kicked my girlfriend” it really means “I broke up with my girlfriend”. He also taught me about hair cuts. “When you go to a barber shop, and it seems really really expensive it might not actually be a barber shop. The guy you are replacing told me he went to one and the lady kept saying ‘lets go to special room’ and the guy had no idea what she was talking about”. Yikes.

Anyway I went home after we were done eating and went to bed. I woke up during the night and decided to grab some food and take a walk around my neighborhood. This is what I saw.








Anyway, that was my first day in Korea. You think that was cool, weird, odd, totally bizarre? Wait till you hear about my 2nd day.

Anway, I'm very tired and will try to write about my second day in the morning.