Tuesday, July 20, 2010

What's Been Up!

After 34 hours of traveling (that sucked and FYI NOTHING is open at DFW at midnight) I made it to my destination and my hubby.

On a side note: Korean Airlines at Incheon Airport have like four different areas and they are all different.  If you are trying to check in to go to another city in Korea then you need to go to the far side of Counter A.  Don't stand in any line for Counter B... that is for international flights and the lines are long and when you get to the counter they laugh at you after telling everyone in Hangul that you are a dumb American (okay they probably weren't saying that but I felt like it because I was a total lost American).  Then when you get to Counter A if it is more than 2 hours before you flight then you might as well take a seat because they will not issue you a boarding pass and little old ladies will cut in line in front of you even if you are standing in line.  Finally, when you do have your boarding pass take another seat because they won't let you through security until an hour before your flight.

Once I was here I had my hubby take me straight to the hotel because I was super tired and in dire need of a shower and change of clothes.  We did stop at the Burger King on post (but it was closed) and then the convenience store for some snacks before we went to our room.  My hubby had gotten me gorgeous flowers but had assumed I would not smell like butt or dragging butt and had left them at our future house.  The next morning we had to go to Housing and sign our lease papers.  Our landlords only speak Korean and we only speak English so it took a while with the translator.  Finally, when we were finished I went back to the hotel and literally slept all day and Adam went to the new house to get stuff taken care of including have our temporary furniture from the Army delivered.

At dinner time Adam picked me up because we were meeting some people for dinner.  We had a Korean dinner complete with sitting on the floor.  We ordered bulgogi, which consisted of a big pot on a burner in the middle of the table with beef, mushrooms and other veggies, and rice.  Completely full and legs asleep we headed back to the hotel room for the last night before moving completely in to our new home.  Oh yeah, we also had to brave the downpour.  It rained REALLY hard the first couple of days I was here and although I had an umbrella I always forgot to bring it with me and we would be soaking wet by the time we got to the car.  Since then I have kept my umbrella in my purse and not another drop of rain.  Adam tells me it is Monsoon season and that explains for the heavy rains and super high humidity (you sweat through your clothes in like 5 minutes outside).

Since moving in to our house our days have been spent relaxing and unpacking what boxes we do have.  We haven't received our household goods yet and that will be a lot of unpacking when they do arrive.  BUT we have a cardboard box fairy who takes our boxes when we put them out by the car.  We have two air conditioners but they only cool and dehumidify the big rooms on the two floors and the two rooms we are using as our offices are super hot still.  Our internet is incredibly fast which is great since we don't have cable tv.  Our temporary bed is hard as a freaking rock and I am so ready for MY nice bed to get here.  I honestly think sleeping on the floor might feel better.

What else can I tell everyone.
  • Our streets are super narrow and curvy and it feels like you are in a maze.  Our neighborhood is comprised of shanty houses and super nice houses as well a Buddhist temple and the people behind us have kim chi pots outside on their roof I can see from our windows in the stairwell. 
  • Daegu is called Colorful Daegu and it does live up to that.  All the buildings have bright colors on it and the city itself is nestled in a bunch of super green mountains that steam when the humidity gets high enough.  
  • Not all Korean food is spicy but if there is even a hint of red it will be spicy.
  • They speak Korean very fast and I feel like I will NEVER figure out what they are saying.

1 comment:

Megan said...

It sounds like you are having an interesting time! Steve said the same thing last summer about Korea in the summer with it being monsoon season. I feel like every time I talked to him it was raining or going to rain or super super humid, worse than the Midwest!

Keep us posted! :)