And so it begins...

I've been in the motherland for less than 30 hours but with the amount of stuff we did yesterday, it feels like a week has already passed.

I arrived at Incheon Airport at 5:30 a.m. after the smoothest flight known to mankind. Before departing, I was dreading the 11+ hour flight because there's just nothing to do for that amount of itme. Even if you sleep for, say, 5 hours, waking up and realizing you still have 6 hours left to go is disappointing to say the least. But for me, I slept a wopping 8 1/2 hours straight! I woke up and my brother told me we only have 3 hours left to go...can you say "success"?!

[Waiting at the airport!]

For the remaining 3 hours, I ate, watched Iron Man 2 and Karate Kid and read Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go. When we landed, brother John went back to Daejeon, where his school is. My dad and I took a 45-minute bus ride to Gimpo Airport to take another flight to Busan, where I am now. It was a long morning of traveling, but we finally made it to his house around 10:30 a.m.

The long hours were well worth the wait as we came home to a delicious lunch waiting for us at the table. As I sat there with fried fish, salty seaweed and spicy fishcake soup in front of me, I immediately knew that this next year is going to go down as one of the best culinary experiences for me :) If the above food or the pictures below make your stomach turn, you have no idea what you're missing out on.

[My first Korean meal]

[Mom and Aunt Mary: jealous much? ;)]

Anyway, after lunch, we rested for an hour before going to my dad's most recent architecture/design project. It took 8 months to complete but the results are wonderful. And I could tell he was really happy with it. The owner of the building lives on the 7th floor, where he overlooks the entire ocean. It's breathtakingly beautiful!

[Look at that view!]

We had some ginseng tea and fruit with him and his wife for an hour or so before heading back to my dad's loft. Back at the house, we went to his neighbor's, an art professor whose house he designed and whom he frequently golfs with. We had some coffee and discussed golf.

By "we," I mean my dad and his friend. During this visit and the previous, I just sat there, pretending to understand what they were saying, occasionally throwing out a smile and a nod when they addressed me. While they talked about whatever it is Korean men talk about, my thoughts were wandering to how fun it will be to meet up with Jamie, Jessica and Mark in Seoul. I imagined our first encounter (perhaps happy tears) and then, I thought about my passing out resumes door-to-door in Seoul. Due to the shift in my thoughts, at this point, I usually came back to the conversation...only to drift off again shortly after.

After that visit, we went to a cellphone store to sign me up for a phone. Although I contemplated getting an iPhone, I refrained and went with a more basic phone. If you know my history with phones, that was a much smarter decision for me. But even the basic phone would be considered "nice" in the States. Their technology here is much more advanced, so you can usually get a really nice phone for free because it is considered "basic."

Once we did that, my dad and I walked along the beach, enjoying the cool breezy weather that I have never experienced in Korea before. After a rest at Paradise Hotel for some mango juice and lemonade, we walked to a Chinese restaurant that is owned by a woman whose home my dad designed. Her husband is the chairman of Panasonic and owns a hotel that my dad helped design as well.



Visiting with my dad is always a treat for me since he lives such a life of luxury (it has a nice vacation/resort feel to it all), but I can't wait to live the nitty-gritty in Seoul on my own, with the few people I know. That's more my vibe. I like challenges and adventures and I believe that one can't really immerse into a culture without experiencing the seoul of that country ;) hahaha I'm so corny.

Anywho, the jetlag wasn't that bad last night, but it usually isn't when you go from west to east (or ahead in time). I went to bed around 10 p.m. and woke up at 7 a.m. This evening, I plan on taking the KTX (high speed train) to Seoul, where one of my best friends, Jamie, will meet me! Then, hopefully we can meet up with Mark. We'll see how it all goes.

In the meantime, thanks for reading and I hope all of you are having a fabulous Monday. I love and miss you all.

Bisous (kisses) xoxo