Definitely Not in Kansas (Calgary) Anymore

I have officially arrived in Korea and having been trying to write a blog since I got here. Luckily, there is a PC Bang in my apartment building where I can access my blog. So, here goes arrival day:

1. The dreaded airplane ride, which was only made good by how beautiful the flight attendants were and how at your service they were. Sure, it's only 10 hours. Do you have any idea what there is too do on a 10 hour plane ride to a foreign city? Well, let me tell you: you drink cocktails, try and fall asleep, eat food, try and fall asleep, watch an English movie, which you fall asleep in the middle of, of course, but then get awoken by crying babies. Then you chill until more drinks (non-alcoholic) are served, eat again, try and sleep, but fail misearbly because buddy behind you keeps moving your seat, and then land. Of course, at some point you get up and walk around because you don't want blood clots in your legs. Now, the airplane food on my flight was out of the ordinary, unless you are Korean. I braved it by trying the Korean dish over the Western dish and I Loved It! It consisted of rice with some beef and veggies, which you add tomato paste to (not as bad as it sounds) and a little sesame oil (yuck, but I sucked it up) so it's not so dry. There was seaweed soup, which I must say was fantastic and I thought I would dislike it and there was pickles of some sort. The guy sitting beside me told what type they were, but I forget. He also, showed me how to go about putting my meal together. I know what he was thinking, "Damn white people."
2. Arrive in Inch'on and act like you aren't terrified. I was the very last passenger off the airplane, by the way. I was definitely scared when I got off the plane because it finally hit me that there was no turning back and not a single person spoke English...Great! I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared, but lucky for me I didn't have to go it alone. I had Mary, who has been to Korea before and is here with the same company I am. We got to ride a taxi together to our hotel, which was very entertaining. Take Calgary drivers at their best and times that by a million. You can't even begin to imagine how crazy the driving is here until you see it first hand. Mary calls it "the dancing of the cars." Drivers literally drive as fast as they can on each others asses, weave in and out of traffic and how they merge lanes is more like get over as fast as you can if you don't, but don't get hit while doing it. They pretty much drive into each other, but don't get into accidents. If Calgarians drove like Koreans, we would all be dead. At least, Koreans know how to use a signal light though, something Canadians don't. I have never seen more congested roads that are massive. Intersections are double the size of our biggest ones. Watching them drive really is the most entertaining thing I have seen thus far. Oh, and every car has GPS systems that are amazing.
3. Arrive in one piece to Hotel. Check-in with girl who doesn't speak English and take my 1000lbs bags up to my room. Good thing Mary's friend Sung-Yee (definitely not spelt right) was there to use his manly muscles and help us weak girls. Once, I dropped my bags off I joined Mary and Sung-Yee for dinner at a sit on pillows on the floor restaurant. Very authentic, we had to take our shoes off at the entrance. Here we enjoyed some fine (or not so fine) Korean food. Kimchi at its best I guess. We had some kimchi soup with chicken and tofu, which was fabulous, but very spicy that it made my nose run and rule #1, no blowing your nose at all, ever in public, so you can imagine how much that grossed me out. There was my favorite dish, rice! And them some regular cabbage kimchi and another radishy like kimchi soup (but nothing like the radish kimchi we had at Korean Village mom). Plus, there are whole bunch of other side dishes served, but I steered clear on my first night. We also, enjoyed some Cass and Hite beer with our meal. Sung-Yee ended up treated Mary and me to dinner, which was unexpected, but very much appreciated. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the fabulous fruit salad. I think I will order that everywhere I go...hahaha!
4. Visit a bakery and 7-eleven to get breakfast food. The Paris Bakey was great. Bread and bagels were very cheap, but Sung-Yee paid for my baked goods. He is such a nice guy, aside from paying for my food. I had only been in Korea for 3 hours and I had yet to pay. Once we were done at the bakery we moved on to 7-eleven, which is exactly the same as home, but with Korean treats. Upon, entering the store I was being checked out by Korean guys. Creepy, but expected when you are foreigner. I guess Operation KFC has started. Mary and I just bought some yogurt and juice and Vitamin C, which I was told to drink everyday to keep sick people from making me sick. Then we headed back to the hotel where I watched English television and tried to blog, but failed, and then decided a good's night sleep was in order. Well, I tossed and turned half the night and with all the horns honking outside my window I was thankful for my ear plugs, otherwise, I was getting no sleep.