"Eat more kimchi"-

Success!

We have arrived and we're very happy to confirm that our apartment is very nice. Much nicer than our Tulsa apt actually. The best part is: no bugs! 2 small bedrooms, 1 "master" bedroom, a laundry room/ balcony, tv room/eating room which connects to the kitchen.

The flight went really well. Jordan and I were quick to say a prayer of thanks that there were no small children sitting near us. It was a pleasant flight that went rather quickly considering that we both forced ourselves to stay awake the whole time. As a result, I think the jet-lag will be minimal. We ended up going to bed somewhere around 5 am our US Seattle time and we woke up this morning refreshed and ready to explore.

We've looked around the town a tiny bit today. It's going to be an adjustment, but I think we're ready for whatever is coming. So far, we've only looked through what appears to be downtown Tongjin (which is where our apt. is located). It's hard to pass judgment on the place just yet. Overall there are a lot more shops than I expected, but I've been surprised by the lack of grocery stores. It looks like our food-cooking source will be street vendors and convenient stores; but again, it's hard to say just yet. I was surprised how few people we saw milling about and several of the shops looked closed. So far we've spotted one catholic church and haven't found our schools yet. Simon and Hanna (the lovely British couple we're sharing the apt with for a few days) said the schools are about a 10 minute walk from the apartment. We'll go to the schools with them on Monday to meet our superiors.

Jordan and I decided to brave the unknown and go after some lunch today. We were able to say "hello" in Korean and Jordan took a stab at saying "what would you recommend" in Korean (I laughed out loud while he attempted it---I'm really supportive). The man said something and pointed to the menu, and we said "thank you" in Korean and nodded our heads not knowing at all what we had just ordered. First they brought out what seemed to be appetizers- kimche, onions, pickled something, and a dodgy black paste that I actually never tried. I'm pleased to say the kimchi wasn't bad, in fact it was kind of good. Then came the main dish: not too shabby at all, thank goodness. It was this odd sort of...gosh, I dunno. It was a mound of rice and vegetables totally surrounded by a ketchup-like sauce and further surrounded by a crepe-looking egg wrap. It looked like an egg cake. It tasted just like fried rice actually and the ketchup gave it a sort of eggs and hashbrowns breakfasty taste. Quite nice. I enjoyed it very much. The only trouble that came was minor. The woman who made the food came out to talk to us. I thought she was asking if we like the kimche, and I nodded and said thank you. But as she walked away, Jordan said "I think she just asked us if we wanted more kimche."
"Oops."
We already had tons of food between the two of us, so when she brought back another heaping helping of kimchi we knew it would be a struggle to get through it. Jordan seemed to think I wasn't pulling my weight with the surplus. At one point he told me, "eat more kimchi" and that's when I realized we were definitely in Korea.

Hope all is well in good ol America. We'll keep you updated as much as we can. Sometime soon we'll attempt to attach some pictures.

-Kelsey

Breaking the Journey in Seattle

The visas came in on Wednesday. Finished up at Philbrook on Friday. Purchased plane tickets on Saturday. Turned in our apartment keys on Sunday. Flew out of Tulsa International Airport at 6:30am on Monday.

Here we are safe and sound in Seattle. Couldn't think of a more peaceful place to rejuvinate before we make the 11.5 hr. plane ride to Incheon.

More to come!