Back to the Motherland

I woke up at 4am on Friday to get ready to leave for the airport.  When my parents and I arrived in Madison, I had my mind set to get to a bathroom and almost missed my surprise visitors, Sis and June!!  This is my first summer in 3 years that I haven't spent with them so I'm soooo happy I got to see them!

Sis, me and June...my awesome aunts!

It was hard to say good-bye to my parents at the gate...finally some tears but I held back as much as possible.  My plane was delayed so I began to panic a little bit because I had less than 1 hour between transfer times.  It finally arrived and I had a three hour ride to Denver.  The mountains were so gorgeous and I know I'll have to take a trip out west since besides going to Washington, the farthest west I've been is Minnesota.  When I got to the airport, I had to sprint across the airport and hop on my plane to Seattle right away.  Then I just have to say...the Seattle airport=UGHHH.  I had to get on three different shuttles before reaching my gate.  I have no idea how I figured out where to go but I managed.  It was slowly starting to hit me when I was surrounded by Asians...something I'm definitely not used to haha.  I got to call my mom one last time and then I got on my flight with Asiana for a lovely 12 hour plane ride to Incheon.

I have to say, this airline puts American ones to shame.  All of the flight attendants look like models.  They were constantly handing out things...slippers, warm towels, drinks, food, and really speedy too!  The coolest things were the food and personal TV screens. I was worried my iPhone was dying but no worries because I got to watch movies and listen to music and everything was very current.

my lunch - bibimbap

 

The flight didn't seem like it lasted 12 hours and before I knew it, I started getting ear aches and knew we were descending for land.  Unfortunately I wasn't by a window but I did my best to look.  As I started to see land, I started tearing up.  Ok, I lied, I was bawling... I couldn't believe that after 22 years, I was finally seeing my birthplace and Korea.  Seeing Korea from the airplane made me realize my dreams were coming true and there were so many exciting things waiting for me.

Once I got off the plane to Incheon Airport...yup, time to start freaking out.  There was English on signs but I had no idea where I was supposed to go and I was cursing my recruitment company for being so vague.  I figured that since I am a foreigner here, immigration seemed like the best place to be.  Luckily it was and I got through quickly, found my baggage claim area and easily found my luggage.  Again, no idea where to go next so I just followed the crowd.  After scanning the crowd, I found Hyunwoo who was holding a sign that said "Welcome to Korea Caitlin!"

For those of you who don't know, my family hosted a foreign exchange student from Korea when I was a sophomore.  Hyunwoo helped me gain interest in Korea and she's the reason I became interested in teaching ESL.  I haven't seen her since I was 17 and it is extremely fortunate she was able to meet me at the airport AND only lives an hour away from Gumi, the city I'm living in.

Hyunwoo and I bought bus tickets to Gumi.  Throughout the drive, even though I knew I was in Korea, I felt like I was just driving to a new city in the US even though there were signs in Korean and I was surrounded by Asians.  It just didn't seem real.  After a  until we reached our destination.  My boss and his wife picked us up from the station and headed to my apartment.  I will save that for my next post.

Again, thank you to everyone who helped get me to Korea.  I'm safe, I was okay traveling alone, and it was overall a very emotional experience that I hope every Korean adoptee gets to experience.