We made it!!!

Hello world!

Amy and Bryan have officially made the leap, and all is well :)

As most of you know, the actual 30 hours of travel to arrive here was what I have been most nervous about, and I am proud to say that I made it through (with only 1 small little breakdown during hour 15) :)! The flight from LA to Seoul (13 hours...painful), was on Asiana Airlines, complete with chic and modern 'Asiana' style. The flight attendants were all beautiful Asian women wearing beautiful outfits (they had about 3 outfit changes each), serving beautiful food in beautiful little red dishes.

I think our first taste of what this next year was going to consist of is when the flight attendant offered us out breakfast choices: American omlet, or spicy octopus. We quickly chose the omlet, although Bryan has probably mentioned 5 times since then that he wished he would have chosen the more exotic choice. I, on the other hand, was completely content with my decision.

We arrived in the Busan airport at about 9 in the morning, and our recruiter's boss picked us up. He then took us to Ginger's, our recruiter, house. She lives with her Canadian husband Bruce in a pretty apartment with a nice view of the mountains. We managed to talk with them for a little bit, but our jetlag kicked in pretty strong, and we each slept for the remaining 5 hours of the afternoon.

Once we were alive again, Bruce and Ginger took the two of us to a verrry authentic Korean BBQ restaurant down the street. Bryan and I were the only foreigners there, and there was zero English on the menu. Thank goodness for Ginger and Bruce!

We all had to remove our shoes once we walked into the restaurant, and we were seated on the floor around a low table that had a mini grill in the middle. The waitress came over quickly and placed a pot of hot coals under the grill, and brought a whole cart of side dishes which filled almost every inch of the table. The side dishes consisted of lettuce leaves, about 3 different types of Kimchi (traditional Korean spicy pickled cabbage), red bean paste, whole garlic cloves, radishes, and many many more.

The waitress then brought us a plate of raw pork which looked like really really think slices of bacon. Ginger put all of this on the grill, and cut it up with special scissors once it had cooked for awhile. When the meat was ready to eat, we each took pieces of it with our chopsticks* (*more on that obstacle later), and dipped it/added it to the various sides before eating it. The pork was so so delicious! After we finished that plate, Ginger ordered a second plate of marinated pork ribs, which we then grilled, and ate in the same way.

The whole dinner was a completely new experience for both of us, and while at times a little overwhelming, it was a wonderful glimpse into the culture that we will be immersed in over the next year.

*So, about the chopsticks. I had joked with some before coming here that this new exotic food might be a great diet if I didn't like the new flavors, but heres the thing: the flavors and food were wonderful, if I could only get the food into my mouth. I am AWFUL at using chopsticks. The chopsticks at the restaurant last night were metal, which we were told were the hardest to use, so hopefully last night was a rare thing...but still, it was super tough. Bryan and I already discussed getting a whole lot of chopsticks for our apartment so that I could practice on my own with peas, rice, air...you name it :) I hope to be the next 'Chopstick Master' when this is all said and done.

We are going to our apartment in a few hours and I am so so so excited to see it :). We will post more later, but until then- Anyong Haseo! (goodbye, hello, goodnight, good morning!)

love,

Amy