What am I doing here??

So what am I doing here? I will be the first to tell you that I am the last person whom I ever imagined living in Korea. But here I am.

The night before I left a friend asked me whether I was nervous. I said No. But the next morning, for the first time since making the decision to spend the next 3 months in Seoul, I started feeling a little queasy. Was it nervousness? Only getting 2 hours of sleep? The double shot of fernet branca at my going-away party the night before? Fortunately, no queasiness on the plane.

For the last few weeks, I've been trying to prepare for trip by reading Michael Breen's book, The Koreans: Who They Are, What They Want, Where Their Future Lies. Breen is a journalist by training, so it's a very readable volume with lots of anecdotes, though the narrative thread is sometimes difficult to follow.

I also thought it would be a good idea to watch some Korean films, especially since I've only watched one in my life, a film called Sakwa, which no one I know has ever heard of. So I watched Tae Guk Gi a few days before I left, along with two random Korean films on the flight. My first impression: I've never seen so many grown men cry in my life. I'm not talking about tough-guy, bad-ass crying like Denzel in Glory, where he lets one tear, just one tear, roll down his left cheek. I'm talking about full-on bawling. Does anyone have any theories about why men are always crying in Korean films?

Eunice's parents picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at my home for the next 3 months. It's a small apt with a great location. A 5 min walk from the church where I'm working, a 10 min walk from a mega-supermarket, and a 10 min walk from the subway station. It's a great launching point for many adventures to come.





My plane after arriving at Incheon International Airport


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On my way out of the airport




Home sweet home