What a day!!

Well, it's now actually Friday morning  (6:22am) and they said we might wake up around 3am...but I lasted til now because i was exhausted. I tried to write last night, but I kept falling asleep like every other word. Finally I gave up. Here I go again, starting with a paste from what I actually got finished between passing out and waking up.

WHAT a 24 hours it has been!!! After getting about 2 hours (because last minute orders, gifts, packing had to be done), I held back tears as I said bye to my mom and the family got in the van and dropped me off at the airport. (this is all I got done before I gave up last night...then I was waiting for all the pics to upload).

 When I got in, I checked in very quickly and there was barely a line. Then I went to the waiting area and saw my friends who were on the same flight (small world!) I hadn't eaten since lunch and had an apple and granola bar even though my stomach hurt under my rib cage. I wrote in my new journal, watched a guy spit his gum into the fake tree!), watched the flight attendants arrive (super perfect looking...which they continued to be during the entire flight, including 4 outfit changes), and then we boarded.

 I did walk around for a bit and bought a magazine and almost fell asleep waiting to board.

 Sat with my friends Phil and Myoung Shin and got settled.

 It was SUPER hard putting my compression socks on under my jeans. Lol, that took about 10 minutes. Note to self, next time put them on at home.
There were lots of goodies on the seat...water, slippers, blanket, headphones. As I was walking in, I noticed that almost everyone had already taken shoes off and had these slippers on.

Then we took off. I keep a running "note " of the timeline, so I wouldn't forget. Pretty much, we ate, they turned the lights out, slept a bit, movie, ate again, lights out again, ate again, another movie. It was  a LONG flight and didn't help that the air conditioning didn't seem to be on. Even my experienced traveler friends said they'd never felt that nauseous.

 

So we landed, got off plane around 4, went to immigration and customs and when we got to meeting area, I couldn't find anyone holding my name. I freaked out slightly, and then spotter her a bit later. Whew!!! Next 4 hours, I stood holding signs, waiting for other tour participants to arrive. Around 7:45pm (new time...which was like 5:45am old time, I started to get really, really tired). I did eat with a new friend and her mom, and tried Kimchi, tried to use chopsticks (not too successful) and did lots of people watching!!)

pic from home? haha

 I really did try the chopsticks. I have issues with my hands and elbows from violin and when the pain set in, I gave up. Didn't finish this meal...it was huge.




Finally, we headed to Seoul, got to hotel 24 hours after I started the day...I didn't even want to move, but I managed to get my dress hung up for today ,brush my teeth, and open my computer (which I then did nothing on). And here we are. So, there's the synopsis of the events. But that's not even the interesting part. Haha, sorry that lasted so long, but since this is a sort of diary of things for myself as well, I wanted to get it done with some detail. (also, I know some of you have already seen these pics on FB) so I've decided to dump pics in an album on FB and then do more details on the blog. Sorry for the repetition.

Hmm...maybe i'll do another entry for the "feelings" portion. Cuz this has been long enough. Also, I'm supposed to head down for breakfast. So funny that I'm this wide awake before 7am...which normally wouldn't be that weird since it's like 4pm at home, but ironic since I'm usually most tired at 4pm (when I take a nap most days). I thought that jet lag wouldn't affect me too much since my sleep cycle is already strange, I think I'll be good for this side of the trip. I heard coming home might be harder. More interesting post coming up !!