The Arrival

So there I was, leisurely getting out of bed at 10:00 on a lovely Thursday morning in Vancouver. A quick shower and a phone call to find out what was happening with this Korea thing was the plan.
That plan went off with no problems and indeed, an answer to the question, "When am I going?" That answer was, 2:00 pm. Today. Being an international flight, I would need to be at the airport around noon. It was now close to 11:00. And the fun began.
There's really nothing like scrambling to gather up everything you might have missed for a year in Korea, console a shocked girlfriend, and try to get a hold of someone to give you a ride as well as people who deserve to know the new news. Somehow, it all came together and I managed to get on Singapore Airlines flight SQ017 to Seoul.
The flight was fantastic. Every seat has it's own TV, you get to choose what movie you want to watch and when, or you can play Nintendo games or watch Asian news or Friends episodes. The food was also quite good. You got a choice of a Western, Korean, or Indian meal, We got two meals so I went for one Korean and one Indian. And this was all in economy class! It made an 11 hour plane ride quite pleasant. I highly recommend flying through Singapore Airlines.
My first view of Asia came as we passed over the southern tip of Kamchatka. I thought that was pretty cool. Don't ask why, I just did.
We flew across Japan, but I didn't see much, it was quite cloudy.
The clouds over Korea were strange. As we approached Seoul, which is quite close to the border with North Korea, I noticed that the clouds over South Korea we puffy, while those over North Korea were very smooth. Can a different political climate change the physical climate conditions?
Probably not, but it was a little odd.
Once we landed in Seoul, I moved in a travelers daze through immigration and customs. They asked me what was in my trunk. I said various things. That was apparently good enough and I was passed through.
After that, I was accosted by a friendly, but pushy taxi driver. I ended up paying an exorbitant amount of money to get to the domestic airport to catch my flight to Ulsan. That flight was short and uneventful, but it got me closer.
I was picked up by the directors of the school and we drove to Miryang, stopping at a very cool restaurant with paper love notes all over the walls. The food was very tasty, but I was very tired.
I got into my new place and fell asleep.
I woke up this morning and wandered around my new home, both the apartment and the town. It's all very nice. I still need to change my traveler's cheques into real money, but other than that all is good.
I'll get you more updates later.
Guy