En Route

July 4, 2009, 8:47 AM
"Cafeteria" on the 4th floor of the Airport
Seoul, South Korea

I'm going to have to look up how I wrote my headings last year for these entries. I can't remember my format and it's bugging me. I'm having some me-time at the moment--might as well before I jump back onto a crowded airplane, and then a bus. I wrote a quick blog entry and posted it while I chatted with Mom and Mike. I'm so glad he was online, I knew it'd be hit or miss--either he'd be on or he wouldn't. He texted my mom for me and let her know I was online and she signed right on.

This might sound strange but in some ways I'm more acutely aware that I'm in a foreign country here, than I was the first time I went to China. My first trip to China, going through the airport, I could see characters I remembered learning. Even if I coudln't remember what the characters meant, they felt familiar.

I don't know a single word of Korean. These "silly little stick figures" as Mike always calls my Chinese homework, don't make sense to me at all.

I kind of wish we would have left the airport. I saw a sign for a tour of a Buddhist temple that let you go from airport to temple to airport in an hour, but it wasn't open yet and leaving the airport always heightens the risk that we could miss our next flight. What if we got delayed? Of course, there's still 2 hours left before we even board at this point.

While I was on the computer, the others left for food and fresh air. I needed my computer time.

I finally tore myself away to find something to eat. I walked around for a bit, convincing myself it was too early to cave in and ahve American fast food. I ran into Sean and Sharon headed to wait at the gate while I went back to explore the area where the computer lounge was. There are showers, a massage place ,and some places to eat. I picked the Cafeteria. It definately didn't look like a cafeteria. The woman behind the counter phoned my order in somewhere; there was no kitchen in sight.

I saw a chicken cutlet dish and ordered. Fried, breaded chicken, what else is new? Right? This had sauce on it and I ordered it anyway--and tried to eat it. The brown sauce wasn't terrible, the yellow was (I tried to eat around it). At any rate I took a chance and had a good meal.

I've wandered back to the TV lounge now to finish my journal but I'll go down to the gate in case they're worrying--not that the plane is going anywhere soon.

Erin

Seoul, South Korea
TV lounge, 4th floor
July 4, 2009, 9:55 AM