Last week in ROK and flight back home

Yes. I know this is over a month late and that I haven't posted in about 3 weeks. I've been sort of busy. I'm looking for a job, which sucks. I also think I didn't want to write this because, well, it makes it real. Final. I'm not going back. And while I knew that when I got on the plane, there was still a little part of me (and there still is I guess) that wants to be in Jinju - with the familiar, with my group of friends. Especially now - October is the perfect month in Korea. The weather is fabulous and there a a billion festivals. And I'm missing them. So that's why I didn't want to write this. But I'm going to because it's time.

So in my last post I mentioned how I had to be out of my apartment by the 22nd, but that my plane ticket wasn't until the 30th. That meant moving in with Dallas. It actually went much better than it could have. Our apartments are pretty tiny and with 2 people's stuff crammed in it, space is extra limited. But after we arranged everything and organized his house, we didn't have any problems. We'd spent so much time together the previous couple of weeks that it really didn't feel that much different - except that I was showering at his place instead of mine and that we did laundry together. The week with him was pretty low key - he went to work in the morning, then came home and we went to the gym or watched an episode of Secret Garden, then we had or made dinner, watched more SG and went to sleep.

That routine was slightly altered because of a few other events. First, Monday night was my night to say and extra goodbye to some IEC people. Brandon and Jamie were nice enough to host a going away/game night. So we ordered delivery chicken and played some 30 seconds and Balderdash. It was a lot of fun and a perfect way to say goodbye because I'd been playing game with the Currents, Ilani, Jungwha and Lance since the beginning.

I think Brandon is trying to talk us into voting for one of his answers here.

Jamie cracking up - she laughed a lot while reading some answers.

Lance and Ashley looking dumbfounded while Ilani and I laugh at whatever it was.

I don't remember what I did on Tuesday (this is why I need to write stuff earlier - my outline didn't list anything). The only thing I do know was that I had to wait at the apartment for a guy to come pick up my luggage and when he came I wasn't wearing pants because it was really hot and I was about to take a nap, so I had to rush and banged my foot. I'm pretty sure I went to D's school after that to bring him something, but I don't remember what. I think Dallas and I tried to get dak galbi that night, but it was closed and then the Vietnamese place was also closed so we ended up at the kimbap place. It was raining and we went to Cafe Bene and got take out coffees and a waffle using my free stamp card and went back to the apartment and watched more SG.

On Wednesday I had a packed day. I went to dance in the morning and said good bye to all the ladies. My teacher finally took a picture with me! They got my contact info, but we haven't messaged as of yet. I really will/do miss dance class. It was also my last time with Krista and we said a fast goodbye before she got on the bus because neither of us wanted a crying day.

You can't get the full effect of how awesome she is from this picture. And I look gross, so ignore me.

After that, I ran home to shower, then got picked up by Lucy and we went for coffee and honey bread at LeeDongWoo coffee near the river. We drove back and parked near work, but then split up before the intersection so that she wouldn't get in trouble for being seen with me - we didn't know if my ex-boss would be mad at her or not. She was a good worker and I'll miss her too. Right after coffee with Lucy, I met Lori for coffee with at Holly's. We sat and talked for a long time about all the junk going on in both our lives. Both of us said we should have been meeting up before, but we were both glad to at least have been able to chat then. Wow that was an awkward sentence. Dallas had volleyball that day, so we had a short gym session.

After the gym, he rode his bike to a lesson he had, and I went back to his house to shower and change. That night was my going away dinner. I made reservations at Zio Rico's and they set up a back room for us. Maybe about 10 people came, which was a good number and included all of my favorite non-IEC Jinjuites. Dallas got there a bit late because of his lesson, but when he came he brought a cake. It was shaped like an apple because he wanted to encourage me to keep teaching. It also tasted like apple with sour apple on the top. He and I split a salad and pizza and everybody else ordered random stuff. Lots of us at the back table ordered wine, so that was fun. It was a nice night. People left slowly because many of them had to work in the mornings. Then a group of us went outside and chatted and slowly said good-byes. Hugs were involved and I tried super hard for tears not to be.

Me and cake

Cheers for me

There was debate about staying out later and contiuing to drink, but I didn't want a sloppy goodbye with anyone, so we decided to call it a night. We walked Kylie and Alex home, then Nick dropped out, then it was me and Dallas. We fell asleep soon after we got home. On Thursday I met Kyeong He for our last trip to the sauna. We scrubbed, went in the outside pool, which was really hot, scrubbed some more, I went into the cold pool and we scrubbed some more! Then we had lunch and said goodbye.

Last lunch with KH - kimchi bokimbap

We were on the corner and both started to tear up so she ran off because she didn't want to cry. She sent me a text later saying she cried for 2 minutes, which was a long time for her! Then I met woods to cancel my phone. That whole situation was annoying but I won't go into detail because it's not worth it. I ended up having to go back to school and sit with him so he could transfer my last payment amount and give me a pay stub of sorts. I had planned on meeting Dallas earlier, but was stuck waiting, then ended up seeing him on the street to walk home anyway. That was our last gym day and I took a picture of my locker because the gym owner was always so nice to me (and actually gave me a free locker). After the gym we went back to the dak galbi place, which was open this time, and ate dinner. I love that place, so it was my choice for last meal in Korea. Then we stopped off at the park and went on the swings for a few minutes. Lastly, we walked home and finished Secret Garden. We were up sort of late, but not too bad. The series was really good and a good ending for us.

I woke up early on Friday and took a shower and got dressed. Dallas went with me to the bus station and waited for a few minutes with me because my bus was actually about ready to leave when I got there. We hugged, and I got on the bus. He surprised me a bit because he walked over to the corner and waved bye while the bus pulled out, which I wasn't expecting. Again, I was an idiot and forgot to take a last picture with him. I don't even think I need to explain how much I will miss him.

The bus ride was pretty easy and when I got to Seoul, I asked a couple of people at bus stops if I was at the correct place for the airport limo bus. I had to cross the street, then got nervous because I was waiting for so long (it's supposed to come every 20-30 minutes and I waited for almost 30). I saw one of the buses across the street, so I ran back, but the driver told me to go back to the other side again. So I ran again because I had the green light. I'm glad I did because the bus pulled up right after I crossed again! It was another easy ride though and dropped us off right at the entrance of the airport. I asked information where to find my luggage that I had picked up and it was all there and ready to go for me. I threw it on my cart and went to wait in line to get boarding passes and check in. After standing in line for about 15 minutes, a man came over to check tickets, then told me I had to wait for almost an hour before I was allowed to check in for that flight. Luckily the airport has free wifi, so I ended up calling Dallas and talking to him over kakao talk for a little bit. When I went back to check in, the man told me to get in the customer service line because there was a problem with my flight. Basically, the airport in China was backed up due to weather problems, so they were actually going to move me to and earlier flight so that I would still be able to make all of my connections. The lady at China Southern help desk was very nice, and she changed the wrong spelling of my name for all my tickets. They also didn't charge me for an extra bag, even though I had two checked bags. At that point I had to hustle because the plane was at the other gate and I would have to take a shuttle train. I made it in time, and actually had time to get a Jamba Juice and sandwich before the flight - which was the first food I'd eaten all day.

Last picture in Korea :(

The flight to China was ok. They didn't have personal TVs, only the one up front, which wouldn't have been a problem except for the fact that they showed an American movie, with Chinese subtitles, dubbed in Korean. So I couldn't really understand all of it, although I got the idea. The other weird thing that happened was that they brought water, an extra snack and dinner to certain people first. I was one of the people so I was happy about it, but I'm still not sure why it happened. I think we must have been people whose flights got changed, but really all that did was make my trip and wait at airports shorter. The layover in China sucked. For being an international airport, they had squatter toilets. I also didn't know which type of money I could use - I had won and dollars and didn't feel like trying to exchange anything - so I sat there for 3 hours with no water (luckily I still had a sandwich left from Jamba Juice). The airport had free wifi, but you had to have a Chinese phone number to get it, so I ended up playing a phone game for 2 hours (thank you Mensa Academy!) and charging my Nook.

The long plane from China to LA was pretty decent. I had a crap seat sort of (middle of the middle) but that didn't really bother me. The man on my left fell asleep pretty quickly, and aside from the occasional snore, didn't bother me at all. He actually let me put my feet over on his side a bit because my backpack was big. I will say that Asiana was a nicer airline because they bring water and little snacks around during the whole flight. China Southern didn't do that and I was really dehydrated. But overall it wasn't bad. They fed us twice, but I can't remember what I ate. It was decent plane food though. When I got to LA, I got a water (first culture shock - it was basically triple in price from Korea) and a Butterfinger (yum!!). Then I talked to Dallas for a little while then boarded my last plane.

The flight to LA was fine, but they didn't feed us except for a bag of pretzels. Atlanta's airport is really nice in terms of arrangement, cleanliness and stores. It sucks because you have to pay for wifi. As such, I couldn't contact my mom. I got my luggage super fast and waited. And waited. When she wasn't there, I ended up using a pay phone and having to call her 3 times. She had attempted to check with Delta, then Orbitz on my flight status so that she wouldn't have to wait at the airport if I was delayed. Both companies had screw-ups and told her that either my flight didn't exist (Orbitz) or that my flight didn't get in until 8am (Delta). We figured out the problem later, but that meant I had to wait in the airport for another hour while she came to get me, after I had already been there for an hour. Luckily I knew that 1- she was ok and 2- she was on her way. So I sat on some benches and read my Nook. Then we did a super American thing and went to Waffle House, where I ate an omelet and hashbrowns, then went to Costco.

So that's my travel home story and last week in Korea story. Sort of lame I know. I will try to continue to update with things that are going on with me and I'll probably still add some posts that I never got around to doing - like some random Korean tidbits and kid essays and stuff like that. I think this time was harder because it was such a shock and because I knew I wasn't coming back. But it was also easier for that same reason - I was closing a chapter and trying to look at it as a new beginning. I'm still trying to look at it that way, but it's hard. Thanks for taking the journey with me so far :) Who knows what will be next.