Adventures of ShadKat!

Hi everyone!

I am so sorry it has taken Shadi and I to get back to everyone. I guess I should start from the beginning…Wednesday morning we got to the airport and there was a low ceiling over San Francisco so our flight was delayed two hours leaving San Francisco. We were really worried we wouldn’t make our flight to Seoul from there, but everything was fine. We would have at least 20 minutes to get to our gate. So we get to San Francisco and we have 10 minutes to get our tickets, go through security again, and find our gate. Needless to say, we were running around like chickens with our heats cut off trying to get to the plane. We made it, and as we were thanking them for waiting and getting on the plane, one of the pilots said, “We never leave without passengers!”

So we finally start our journey to Seoul and were pleasantly surprised to find out that it would only take 11.5 hours, and not 12. However, the flight was horribly long, but Korean Air is the way to fly! The food was excellent, we had about 20 movies to watch, news programs, games to play, and a mile by mile summary of our flight. Needless to say, whoever comes to visit us needs to fly Korean Air.

So we land in Seoul ready for the next leg of our journey and eager to get to the University and get some sleep (I couldn’t sleep because Shadi kept poking me whenever I closed my eyes. Next time we are on a long flight I am taking something to knock myself out!)! We got through customs just fine and found where we were supposed to pick up our luggage, only to see a sign stating that our luggage did not make it on the plane from San Francisco. We went to the lost and found desk and the land assured us that our luggage would be out on the first flight of the morning and we should expect to get our luggage Friday evening (We landed on Thursday evening). We figured that would be alright, especially because EPIK gave us shirts to wear on Friday.

Once we got to the University we had to wait in line to get our shirts, sign in, and get our keys to our dorm rooms. These are the nicest dorms I have ever been in. We have our own bathroom complete with a shower, two huge closets, our own desks and beds, and we have a card to get in and out of the dorms themselves as well as our rooms. They have two guards stationed at the entrance of all the dorms, and only one person can get through at a time. These are so safe and clean, and I believe every school should take some tips from this school.

So Friday came and went and we still didn’t have our luggage. Some of you make think that it isn’t so bad to wear the same clothes just one extra day, but those were the same clothes we had been wearing since Wednesday morning! We were sooooo stinky! Even though my roommate Molly had let me use her cleaning supplies, I had to put the same smelly clothes back on so I didn’t feel clean.

Saturday was our first day of orientation. We spend it in classes learning things to help us with teaching and life in Korea. At midday we got our luggage and took a shower and changed clothes. What a relief! Shadi and I felt about 100% better. Saturday night we had a mandatory movie and it was okay. I was so tired I fell asleep a bit.

Sunday was spent at a Korean folk village. All the houses in the village were authentic old houses from all around the country that were taken apart and reassembled in the new location. There are pictures with captions for you to see.

After we got back from the village, we decided to get dressed up and go off campus and eat dinner. The food on campus has been really good, and we get fed 3 free meals a day, but we wanted something a little different. It was very difficult to tell the waiter what we wanted, but we finally were able to get our orders in and the food was delicious! The only downside to the whole evening was I wore the most uncomfortable shoes and I know have horrible blisters on my toes. I need to get new shoes! After dinner we were looking for E-Mart, which we didn’t find, but we went to a karaoke bar and sang for an hour. It was fun and totally different.

Yesterday was more orientation and another movie. This movie was a bit better, but not our type of movie. After that we decided to try to find e-mart to find a few supplies we needed. We asked a group of people, in Korean, where E-Mart was and we couldn’t figure out why they were laughing at us. They pointed us in the right direction and soon realized why they were laughing: It was the building right in front of us as you leave campus. There was also a HUGE yellow sign stating that that was E-Mart. Dumb Americans. It turns out the whole building was a mall and E-Mart is the Korean version of Wal-Mart. Let me tell you, Wal-Mart has nothing on E-Mart. It was such a nice shop and great prices too!

We got back to the room late and went to bed. This morning was more orientation and for lunch we decided to go to the mall for some food. We took a guy with us that was born in Korea and speaks fluent Korean and helped us order. Ordering was easy because they had huge pictures and everyone spoke a little English. Lunch was delicious, but very expensive. It was $12 per person, and usually someone can eat for about $5 a person.

So far the classes have been really redundant. We still don’t know where we will be placed; what school or what grade level. We really wont know anything until Thursday, unfortunately. Shadi and I are getting a bit restless. We are in separate dorms and rooms and it’s hard to share things we need, but it’s only for a few more days. I will try to update before we leave, but we wont have internet for a little while once we get settled for at least a week. We will be able to get on and check emails though so email us and we will be in contact.

Well I was adding pictures but the battery died so I will add more pictures later. It’s now 10:54PM on Tuesday and I need to get to bed. Good night for now!

Love to All,

Kathleen and Shadi