The Trip

I decided to come to Korea about 2 years ago. Obsticle after obsticle, I finally was able to apply, get a job, and come. The whole process took way too long. I for screwed over by my recruiter, visa applications, and all the beaurocratic crap one needs to go to leave the country, it took me about four months to get everything set up to come to Korea.
I left Halifax, Nova Scotia on September 29th for Korea. The farewell was tearful and already full of regret. It felt like somebody had taken all the energy that I had stored up saying that this move was a good one and shook it like a snowglobe to make me feel like a fuck. I didn't want to get on that plane in the last minutes before boarding. I wanted to run back into the loading area and just stay home, be safe, in familiarity.
After I went through customs I ran into my ministers wife. Oddly enough, she was going to the United States as well that morning and I was able to talk to her. That was a life saver. She was able to boost my morale and things were fine. I also met a danish chick who calmed me down. I was a mess...fear was written all over my face. I finally got on the plane.
The first place scared me shittless. It was the smallest crap of a plane they could have sent me to New York in, and better yet it was names after a clothing company. American Eagle should not be an airline name....they are pants. I get to New York, anticipating my hour lay over. I get lost of course. Finally I make it to my gate and wait to board the second plane; a whopping 14 hour flight from New York to Incheon Korea.
I board the plane and I am one of maybe 12 white people on the plane. I am sandwiched against the window in a Korean airplane...Koreans are small people. I was like the Jolly Green Giant jammed into a smart car. Needless to say it was uncomfortable. So I sat there, knowing that I was beyond the point of return. Sitting to the most fowl breathed woman I have ever met, and nobody able to speak to me, and me not able to speak to anybody. So I sat in silence for 14 hours. A lot of thought went through my head that's for sure. Many of those I don't remember, but many of those that made me feel one of the deepest feelings of sadness and fear that I have ever felt.
The flight was pretty regular. I got to see the Hudson Bay, the Artic, China, Russia, and Korea all from 30 thousand feet. It was pretty amazing. Flying over the Artic was the most amazing thing I could ever imagine. It looked like what some describe as heaven. Just an eternity of bright light and the purest white I have ever seen. Javex should take a lesson on white from that business. Once in Incheon, I tried to stand to get off the plane. That was hard. My ass was so numb from sitting that I could barely walk. I managed though to get my luggage and meet up with my taxi driver for the hour and a half drive to my school. I don't remember much of that drive. I was so exhausted from not sleeping for about three days that I was hurled into a state of surrealism and everything felt like I was watching a Hugh Grant movie. I made it to the school, met with some teachers from my school who took me out for dinner and showed me where I lived. Finding my apartment was hilarious. Nobody knew where i was suppose to live. they knew it was the 6th floor. After walking in on some poor guy just chillin in his underwear and wandering around looking for my place we found it. It is small, quaint, and something that i will be able to make livable.
I was in Korea. A half a world away from where I belonged, but for some reason after all the fear and problems it felt right. I was welcomed by some friends and very soon, Korea felt like it would be a good year and experience.