So this is happening.

After months of delays, paperwork and scraping money together, it really only dawned on me that this move was kind of a big deal as we were landing in Busan. The skyscrapers built into and up the side of the mountains, which reminded me of something out of Lord of the Rings, made it seem like this actually was some sort of fairytale. Luckily, the adorable little girl who had been singing and kicking (hey, at least it was in rhythm) the back of my chair for the duration of the flight resumed doing so and I was snapped out of it. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera out so I didn't get a picture.

The control tower at Gimpo Airport, one of the three airports I was in.

After I picked up my behemoth suitcase, I headed out the doors where the taxi driver was waiting with a sign with my name on it. After smiling and helping me roll my suitcase out the door, he then started off on a jog towards the parking lot. Luckily I had been sitting for what felt like days, so I was down for some cardio. Once we got to the van he was taking me to meet my contact in, he opened up the door and motioned for me to get in. When he saw I was trying to locate seatbelts, from the drivers seat, motioned to the passenger seat up front and said "seat belt up here." So, naturally, I unceremoniously climbed/fell over the front arm rest into the passenger seat.

Before I got off the plane, I had spit out my gum in order to avoid being the stereotypical loud, gum-smacking American (the same reason I left my stetson at home). But gum-smacking seemed to be the taxi driver's favorite pasttime. So we both smacked gum in silence as we headed towards out destination. Let me just say that I am RIDICULOUSLY GLAD I don't have to drive here. I have never been too much a fan of driving as it is, but from what I gathered the lines on the road are general guidelines and whomever is 'yielding' has the right of way. It's definitely a style of driving I'm not used to.

Some things that excited/surprised me about what I saw on the way to our destination:

1) The floor of the van was made out of wood. Yes, wood. Although I was disappointed to find that the driver didn't stick his feet out the bottom of the vehicle to make it go Fred Flintstone-style (trust me, I checked).

2) Even though we were on what appeared to be the highway, people did not speed much at all. It was nice to not have to worry about a guy in a pickup angrily tailgating you if you are going under 80 mph on a highway.

3) Most of the signs are in Hangul and don't have pictures. While I am glad in a way, this is going to make finding my way around slightly more difficult.

4) I was happy to find that in the area I am currently in, there are less Western shops and places to eat than I was expecting. I really only saw a couple fast food chains on my way in.


5) I saw this huge metal frame wrapped in green netting and was wracking my brain trying to figure out what possible purpose such a thing could serve. Finally we got closer to it and there was the word 'golf' on the side of the building it was next to and I noticed that there were targets on the ceiling of the 'cage' with points on them. How cool would it be to be able to drive golf balls in the middle of a city?

He stopped the van next to a lady who was leaning against a railing and I recognised her as my contact for Avalon. After awkward hello's, she pointed to the tall building we were standing next to and said we were going in here. She dropped me off at my room, gave me her business card in case I needed anything, and told me she'd be back to take me to work on Monday then closed the door. I looked around thinking...okay...now what!? The room they gave me is very nice and I'm kind of glad I'm here and not in an empty apartment without internet.

It took me pretty much two days to defeat the intense Jet lag I was experiencing. Today I woke up around 5 am, got dressed and headed out to do some exploring. While it was quite chilly, it was much more relaxing to walk around when there were less people and cars. I discovered that I'm about 6 minutes walk away from the beach and there are some interesting looking places to eat including, of all things, an Irish Pub, a Baskin Robins, the obligatory KFC, several 7 elevens and to my great surprise and delight an "Always Sunny in Philadelphia Bar." I guess that show is more prolific then I had assumed. Go figure.

Not kidding.

I look forward to going to work later today and hopefully get started on orientation and settling in. I also hope to get some answers to the MANY questions I have at this point.

Anyway, thanks for reading my ramblings, I'm going to go make some more instant coffee and possibly venture out to find a place with wi-fi.

XoXo Nicole