After a brief respite from life on the Korean Peninsula I have returned to my working ways here at Seodong Elementary. Yet, I realized that in my haste to depart Korea I neglected to mention where it was I was going, and what it was I was doing. Well for those of you who are still reading this blog, and honestly I still can't figure out why, I will explain to you where it was I went and what glamorous things I did. Well, maybe I'm lying a little bit. The whole thing about glamorous is severely overrated. I am not a glamor queen.
When I decided to re-contract and stay in Korea I was given a two week vacation to go and do whatever it is I wanted. After some quick negotiations with my school I convinced my school to let me delay my vacation to the end of October that way I could attend my sister's wedding. Yeah, I know, scary thought. My sister got married. No, there were no ritualistic sacrifices nor the shedding of small animals blood, although I kept suggesting it. With this in mind I headed off for another flight across the Pacific Ocean.
I arrived in the port of San Francisco after a 9 hour flight from Korea to San Francisco upon Singapore Airlines. I highly suggest this airline to anyone. This was by far the best service I have had on an economy international flight. British Airways is not far behind, but these guys were good. Upon arrival at the airport I cleared myself through customs, and may or may not have lied when I said that I had no fruits or vegetables with me. Well it turns out that the packages of soup mix I had contained dried dates. Luckily they were dried and the people at customs really didn't care all that much. I had a connecting flight out of San Francisco to St Louis in a few hours upon US Air. This airline has once again reminded me why they cannot run at a profit.
For starters upon check in they slam you with a 25 dollar fee for checking your bag. Now, when I booked my flight I did not know this. However, I was expecting it after I checked their policy online. 25 dollars to throw my bag on your plane, thanks. What was worse however was the response I was given at the check in counter. I was curious to see what response I would get to questioning the bag fee. Now I wasn't irate or even refusing to pay. I just made a comment that I did not know they were charging for bags now. The response I was given is just ridiculous. I am directly quoting this woman, and am in now way, shape, or form changing it "Ohh. That's because we care about your bag." Give me a freaking break. The same people who work for Southwest, Singapore Airlines, Delta, American, etc handle my bags. You put my bag on a conveyor belt and then stuff it into your plane. There is no care for my bag. My bag isn't in the bottom of the airplane getting a massage and pedicure. Just tell me the truth and I would be happy. Simply say we are struggling to make money so we are taking it out on you the customer.
Ohh well, just another reason to love Southwest. Upon arrival in St. Louis at 12:00 AM, no you didn't misread that wonderful fact, I walked off the plane to find my Father waiting for me. During the 2.5 hour ride back to Decatur we chatted about this and that, in what was an effort to keep both of us awake. Plus my dad complains that I don't call him enough so he had a captive audience for 2.5 hours. Jet lag be damned he was going to utilize the time. We walked into the house at around 2:45 AM and basically went straight to bed. My body not entirely sure what decade it was in a the moment acquiesced and let me sleep, that was till I woke up around 9 AM and could not for the life of me get back to bed.
During the day we discussed options for visitng my Grandparents in Ohio. My Grandmother's health has taken a bad turn the past couple of months and we decided that it would be good to go and spend at least one day in Mansfield. Off we went to Ohio to fulfill familial obligations. I also wanted to do some shopping for Ohio State gear and Illinois doesn't have very much of it. They have Illini gear, but who wants to root for the Illinois Fighting Illini? We spent our time in Ohio with family and shopping, and I was intensely grateful to be given the chance to see my grandparents again.
After our trip to Ohio we settled in for a long three day period before we headed out to Dover, Delaware to prep everything for Hollie's Wedding. This three day period was spent watching football, eating good food, and even cooking some food. I decided it would be a good idea to make Stuffed Chicken Soup for my parents. This stuff has become one of my favorite foods here in Korea and I wanted to try making it for my parents. It came out well and I was delighted to think that I had actually managed to bring back/impart some Korean food upon my family.
We left Illinois on Wendsday the 28th and headed out for Dover. However, the second part of this trip will be dealt with in another blog. That's where the story actually becomes somewhat interesting.
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