I'm going to write this in short bits, since I'm so tired from the trip and everything I've been doing. So, let's begin!
The Flight:
I had never flown before in my life, so traveling twenty hours to the other side of the world was a rather large undertaking with a baby in tow, but we managed to survive. We flew from Augusta to Atlanta, Atlanta to Washington DC, from Washington to the Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea.
My son was amazingly well behaved and cooperative. I got lots of complements about his good behavior. He had his tired, I want to get down moments, but he didn't scream and cry like other babies did at various parts of the trip.
Seoul, South Korea:
The airport in Seoul was amazingly huge, with more people than I could have ever imagined. Everything was in Korean and English. It took me a while to find my parents, but when I did find them, I came up behind them with my luggage cart to surprise them.
In the parking lot, all of the cars were different. Their trucks are called "bongos", with beds that can lie flat on all sides for easier loading. Planes were taking off and landing everywhere...Incheon Airport was a whirlwind of excitement. But of course, we had a four hour drive ahead of us to Waegwan.
The Drive:
It was getting dark as we were getting back to the apartment, but you could still see the outline of the mountains in the distance. We drove over a bridge that was several miles long, going over part of the ocean. The fog was pretty dense, but you could see more when we got closer to the city. The toll gates were quite interesting, as I had never been through one before.
The rest stops are really strange...they're right off of the "IC" or Interchange (Highway/Interstate). They consist of several stores, eateries, coffee shops as well as a gas station, bathrooms, and a room specifically to nurse your babies! You don't see any Korean formula here.
The Apartment:
My mom, dad, sister and brother live in these cute five story apartments near downtown Waegwan. There are two apartments on every floor...and no elevators. That's a lot of steps with a 26lb child on your back! There's a special room in which you took your shoes off when you entered the house. The windows and doors were very different from those in the states. The doors to the balcony/clothes drying/gardening area were almost like a puzzle the way they slid to open. Standing on the roof of the apartment was to die for; the panorama view of the mountains was absolutely breath taking when we went up there in the morning.
Daegu, South Korea:
The next day, we hit the ground running as we headed to the train station to buy tickets for the train, which is about 2000 won or $2.00. While we waited on the train, we went across the street to a cafe called Yogger Presso! This is the home of the world's best cream cheese stuffed pretzel. After consuming this delicious bit of food, we boarded the train and zipped over to Daegu, the second largest city in South Korea.
The streets were packed with people all dressed in almost a business casual as their street clothes -- no baggy jeans and revealing clothing here! Everywhere you looked you saw several story McDonalds (which delivered), multi-story Starbucks and Dunkin Doughnuts. Even their Dollar Stores were multi-storied with amazing prices on anything you could imagine. We went to a resturaunt called "Italy Italy" in which you could pretty much design your own pizza (shape included...my sister and I had ours made into a heart).
Even with the jet-lag, my son and I made it through the entire day. At about 6:00pm (5:00am state-side) we crashed for the night.
Home Plus:
A few days later, after acquiring my base-pass, we traveled back to Daegu via car to visit a store called Home Plus. It's essentially the Korean equivelant of a Target or a Walmart, except it's several stories tall and much larger. You have to pay 100 won (or 10 cent) to get a buggy/cart. This cart also is a pedometer which tracks your steps.
The escalator was flat, as in it didn't have any steps, but it was magnetized so your cart couldn't move. Escalators were essential in navigating this store, since there was just so much to see, you could get tired from just walking around one floor.
The inventory included baby ware, groceries, clothes, quilts, music...you name it, they had it. My sister introduced me to a popular fast-food restaurant inside of Home Plus (although you can find it outside as well) called Lotteria. I didn't partake of the fast food itself, but their pop-rocks milk shake is absolutely delicious. My son wanted more and more...the pop-rocks in his mouth fascinated him.
Waegwan Market:
Two days later, we visited Waegwan Market. It wasn't an official "market day", but there were certainly lots of vendors lined up to sell various fish, fruit, vegetables, and sweets. You could find various foods, such as dried eel and squid (don't worry...didn't eat or touch!), sticky rice balls with brown sugar and peanuts inside, chicken hearts and kimchi, the nation's staple food item besides kim (seaweed) and bap (rice).
Post-Sabbath Nose Piercing and Zombie Attack:
A strange heading, I know, but after the sun went down to end the Sabbath day, my sister and I went to downtown Daegu to get my nose pierced! I've wanted to do that for a long time, especially since nose piercings are spoken of positively in Scripture and looked upon favorably by Yahuah (contrary to popular belief).
The shop itself was small but well lit and very clean. I was quite impressed by the difference between this small shop and the various piercing places back in the states. The Persian man running the shop directed me to several small diamond-esque studs that he recomended. He gave me a green "diamond" to put in for the piercing and a white one as a back-up.
As I sat down in the chair, I looked up at the man who was donning gloves and opening the nose-ring packet. I asked him what it would feel like. He didn't say anything as he was rubbing the skin cleaning solution onto my nose.
Then he pushed the nose stud clear through my nose.
"Kind of like that," he said, smiling, as he secured the stud.
It bled. And hurt. But then it was over and I absolutely adored it!
Oh. And then there's the zombie attack. As we were heading back to the train station, we were crossing under the street to get to the other side. We rounded the corner and lo and behold...there were fifty to sixty people in full zombie attire, blood, guts and all, staggering and moaning and reaching out of us. I was scared out of my wits for just a moment and then realized.....this is an ACTUAL zombie walk! My sister and I began taking pictures immediately.
The first week was absolutely amazing, and I'm sure I've left something out, but this about sums it up. Seeing as it's rather late here, I'm going to wrap this post up by saying annyong haseyo and wishing you a great week! Shalom! More to come soon. :D
