I live in ASIA.

Right there. That's Asia.


Here's the post I wrote about an hour ago:

I’m on the bus with YJ, riding from the Incheon airport into Gangnam. Despite the fact that I have been sitting for the past thirteen-plus hours, I am exhausted, so I can’t promise that anything in this post will be coherent. Plus, I can’t even post this until I find a wireless connection somewhere, so maybe I’ll edit it up all pretty before you all see it. Or maybe not. Probably more fun this way.

I spent my international flight between two new friends, Alex and Liz. Alex is moving to Vietnam to study the river deltas, and Liz has been all over Asia - I honestly can’t remember which part she’s currently moving to. They’re both college students, and both incredibly friendly, so the flight felt more like an extended dinner date than the torture I was expecting. Sometime during the flight, Alex pulled out a map. Apparently for his exchange program, he is required to take a test on Vietnamese geography upon his arrival (thank goodness I’m not expected to do the same). The three of us picked out funny things on the map, and I really should have written them down to share. There’s a field of phallic-shaped religious sculptures that have sacred butter rubbed on them for good luck... or something... now that I’ve typed that, I sincerely hope I misunderstood the description. Anyway, so while we were examining the map, I remember thinking “man, I wish I were cool enough to move to Asia like this kid’s doing.” Yep. Let that sink in a bit.

The meals on the plane were pretty tasty. One of them consisted of rice, veggies, and some meat-like substance that I’m going to believe with all my heart was beef. The Korean dish was served about two hours into the flight; right after the meal, they closed all the shades and declared it bed time. At the end of the fake night, they woke us up and gave us... beef stew. I’m more a fan of breads and such for breakfast, but apparently that’s not the way they do it in Korea.

I’m going through a tunnel right now. Thought you ought to know.

Ooh, now there’s a pretty orange bridge! Wow, this couldn’t possibly be more ADD.

YJ just answered his cell phone “yoboseyo” - which is what I was told was hello! I understood Korean! This is gonna be cake.

I just saw a bubblegum pink van.

This post is rapidly deteriorating in usefulness. I suppose for now, the important things are:

• I am safe in Korea.
• I am heading toward my apartment.
• I’m not scared in the least little bit. Granted, I’m not in the city yet, but I’m taking this as a good sign.
• I am nauseous as heck. Curse that beef stew breakfast.

Okay, no more typing for now. Too queasy. One day, I’ll regret not having recorded more of my emotions upon arrival... but right now, I just need to focus on keeping the contents of my stomach on the inside of me.

**Update: I'm in my apartment now, stealing internet to post this. I'm absolutely wiped and don't even feel like going out to find dinner. I just want to sleeeeeeep.