Day 1 Korea

Here I am at Incheon International Airport at about 10:00pm on Friday night. There is a conveniently well lit and easy to find sign designated as the "Meeting Point." There is an internet cafe up one level which costs about 50 cents for 10 minutes. I basically hung out there until 8am for my host, James, to come pick me up.

Fortunately, as is the case with most airports, there is always a place with appropriately high ceilings for juggling. I juggled off and on for a few hours before I wound up stretched out on a bench to take a nap.

Incheon airport has a beautiful flower bed of orchids. I haven't done much flower photography recently, so this was a treat. I think this photo came out wonderful.

I discovered that some Koreans don't use washing machines for their laundry. My host only has two buckets and a dry rack to clean his clothes with. No Koreans use dryers, which I found interesting. It has been a week since my first day and I have learned that you can buy a used washing machine for around $100.

The bathroom has no shower stall, so you tend to get everything wet. This was possibly the most shocking cultural thing I experienced on the first day. If you hold the shower head while you shower, you make less of a mess, but then you have to put it down to put on the soap and such. Definitely not a comfortable shower. Also, if you want hot water in the house, you need to push a button to start the water heater a few minutes before you start using the water.

My host had no food in his refridgerator when I arrived. Apparently he just eats out all the time. So I made sure I put the necessities in there.

This was a very long trip. I arrived travel weary, spent the night in the airport, then showered in a strange bathroom. On Saturday, James and I just hung out around the apartment while I surfed the internet hunting for jobs here.