While surfing the web, looking at various websites titled, "Things for Americans to know in Korea," I started to get pretty nervous. I saw one picture of a college town near the women's college in Seoul that is known for it's shopping, and everything was in Korean -- the street signs, the menus, the store names, EVERYTHING. Of course, that is something that in my mind I obviously expect, but seeing the picture of the street made it seem so real and then I thought to myself, that street is real... How on Earth are my parents and I going to communicate with these people knowing just hello, goodbye, and thank you?
My dad told me that he can't wait to see the moment that a Korean comes up to me and starts speaking to me in Korean, expecting me to speak Korean too. I told him that hopefully I will stick out enough that someone won't come up to me and automatically start speaking in Korean because I wouldn't even know how to respond. However, if someone does come up to me and speaks Korean, I will be flattered. (That happened in Italy once, it was really weird. Non parlo Italiano.)
One of my biggest concerns as of right now is the language barrier, and how to break that. I'm trying to learn how to say things online, but it's not helping much! I went to Italy last summer not knowing any Italian, and I got by. I went to Spain over spring break and got by on my first-semester knowledge of Spanish (Hola, ¿Como estas?, Me llamo Meryl). We'll see about a different language in a different alphabet, how confusing can it be?
On a completely random and unrelated side note, you all must see how precious my dog looks right now. I sacrificed my penguin Pillow Pet for my dogs, and now one of my dogs, Ollie sleeps in my room with it. I call him Muffin Top because of his badass Jew fro. He's staring at me while I'm blogging looking extra-comfy.
Back to my rambles.
I think it's time I come out with it because I can't contain my excitement anymore. One thing I am pretty excited for is... the fight. Traveling with my parents is something that I haven't been able to do much of while in college. I travel usually as a college student, on a budget, and pretty frugally. Traveling with my parents in luxury is a rare treat.
We are taking Japan Airlines and are flying on business executive class. Despite having the luxury of extra legroom (which I usually don't need because I am 5'1"), I am excited for the inflight meals.. is that weird? I mean, they have bento boxes as their cuisine. Usually, I only get bento boxes at my favorite sushi restaurant in Westlake Village. What I can't wrap my head around is that people in Japan eat them every. single. day. What a concept! They also serve green tea on the plane. Sometimes I wonder if the fact that I get excited about Asian cuisines is inherent in my genetics, or just personal preference.
One story (relating to food) before I go to bed and call it a night:
The woman that owns the dry cleaners we go to, Shauna was telling me once (more complaining, really) that her granddaughter only likes American breakfast. "Soo Kyung, I don't know what to do! She only likes American cereal! She doesn't like a traditional Korean breakfast," she said. I asked her, "Well, what is a traditional Korean breakfast?" She replied, "Rice!"
I thought to myself, no wonder she doesn't like a traditional Korean breakfast! Ask a kid to go from sugar every morning to rice, which one do you think the kid's going to choose?
I am going to try and write down all my feelings on a notepad of right when I get off the plane in Tokyo. I want to remember the feelings I have of first landing in a completely new continent that I have not yet conquered (well, I've been to Israel but real Asia. Asian, Aisa.. not Middle Eastern Asia). I'll write down all of my feelings and post them for you all to see.
Of course, I'll be documenting the entire flight -- I have 12 hours to do nothing. It's me we're talking about -- I'm sure I'll have a good story from the flight. I've got some good ones already from my previous travels: an elderly woman trying to steal my luggage at Miami International Airport, an Israeli taxi driver telling me that 20-years difference isn't a big deal and that he wanted to marry me, a man next to me on a flight from Barcelona to Dallas drinking about 5 beers while I'm sitting there with a hangover, and once I fell asleep on a grandmother taking her grandkids to tour Italy.
I have loads to do within the next couple days, but it'll all be worth it come Wednesday.
I can't wait to depart on this journey!
Tomorrow I can say, "Tomorrow!"
Lots of love,
Meryl
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