Just One Expat's Opinion: A cocktail of Soju and new friends

(a long blog for a long day)

My plan of sleeping eight hours on the plane turned into fragments of interrupted sleep totaling approx 2.5 hours. I enjoyed my experience with Korean Air so much and the idea of being between the known stress of the US and the unknown stress I was about to experience made me want to stay on that plane indefinitely. My own personal purgatory.

My predictions of grogginess and conflicting feelings about eating were spot on. What I didn't realize is that the EPIK program had decided the first shuttle out wouldn't be until 11am. With eight hours to kill I took my time getting my surplus of baggage and working my way through customs. I think I am the first person who had ever hoped that getting through the line leading to customs would actually take longer. What was I going to do to occupy my hamster wheel of a mind for the next several hours?

I planted myself in front of the closed EPIK counter and found a place to charge my multitude of electronics. I had grabbed a few things from the convenience store the second my hunger finally arrived, purposefully picking out the most unusual food items I could find. When it Rome right? I was just about to dive into my mystery food when I was approached by a group of foreigners. More EPIK teachers. One of which was assigned to the same province as me. Four turned into eight, which turned into twelve and continued to grow until eventually there were more foreigners than Koreans at gate 14. We mingled and bonded on our places of residence, our placements, and our long and tiresome journey to SoKo. My strange food selections sparked a bit of a competition to see who could find and eat the weirdest item in the store. I won with my octopus sausage. It tasted like fake crab and had the consistency of string cheese.

KorVia assisted me in setting up my new iphone with my brand new Korean phone number and prepaid sim card. I was relieved to have a way to contact the friends I had just made. We feverishly exchanged phone numbers and waited to be called for our bus.

Eight hours later I was finally in a line to board the shuttle. The idea of getting on another form of transportation made me sick to my stomach. But the idea of leaving the gate I just spend the last eight hours at made me anxious with anticipation. The twelve of us who had arrived early were quick to get our shuttle assignments so we could be on the first trip to the orientation. We had bonded before the others arrived and I could sense we all wanted to hold onto that bond and give it a bit more time to grow. The ride was full of conversation and for me, motion sickness. By the time we made our pit stop for a bite to eat I was so sick that one nibble of my new friends fish cake sent me over the edge. I grabbed a sprite and headed back to the shuttle. No food for me please, especially anything unknown.

We arrived to the orientation at 2:30 pm KST and I was no where close to tired. Although, I knew that if I even sat on the twin bed in my dorm room I would be taken over by my desire for sleep. Instead I spent time laying out my wrinkled clothes, deciphering what semi-casual meant for the next days activities and conversing with the girls on my floor. My roommate is a very sweet girl from South Africa who hated her own accent and appeared to be out of sorts a bit, having arrived an hour earlier than anyone else without that important bonding time we all shared. I took her under my wing, walking her from room to room and introducing her to everyone who's name I actually remembered.

Dinner came and it was lovely. Bulgogi, fried rice with diced spam, some kind of creamy cauliflower soup, sausage, salad, a mystery sweet potato-like dish and of course kimchi. I had begun to realize the Korean love affair with orange juice as it was my number one option on the plane for a beverage, offered to me incessantly and was one of three drink options at dinner. Another was aloe juice, something I was afraid to try. I can't seem to understand why aloe juice scared me more than octopus sausage. Oh well.

We sectioned off into the groups we had spent the most time with during the journey from Incheon International Airport. Our original twelve had grown with the introduction of our roommates. I sat there sipping on terrible coffee, zoning out listening to everyone’s conversation and realizing I was dangerously close to falling asleep in my kimchi. I was determined at this point to last until at least 9pm, insistent that I would kick jet lag in the ass. I gathered up my friends and we talked about taking a trip to 7-11 around the corner for some goodies...including the drink I had been warned about repeatedly, Soju.

We never found 7-11 but instead ended up in a very similar convenience store mixing Soju with “blueberry ade”, creating a drink that tasted more like Soju enhanced grape candy. A few more stops while sipping on our Soju from plastic cups with lids (drinking on the streets is legal in South Korea) and I was feeling pretty toasted. Especially after having only 2.5 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. I realized when I was about to contact home after finding wifi in the local bar we stumbled into, that my friends and family at home had slept twice already while I had yet to sleep longer than what constitutes as a good nap. We found our way back to the dormitories and here I sit, 9pm KST and ready to crawl into bed and finally get a good nights sleep. See you tomorrow 컴퓨터.

Approx 200lbs of luggage :/

Korean Air Flight Attendants who looked absolutely perfect for the entire 14 hour trip - something in the water perhaps?

My first Korean purchase...Dunkin Donuts Coffee - such a foreigner thing to do.

Automatic sliding and locking doors in the handicapped bathroom. I had to use it to take all of my luggage in with me. I was afraid I would never get out again.

Good 'ol Mickey D's

Some of my strange food selections, while taking the picture I was being stared at by a group of foreigners who turned out to be more Epik Teachers. The triangle thingies (I swear I'll learn names soon), were delicious.