TOKYO

I'm officially in Tokyo! The flight went so quickly, and it's so weird that we are here! Though it feels like 2am to me considering the time change, we have a two hour layover here and then we have another two and a half hour flight over to Seoul.

Japan is unreal. It's so cool! The airport is pretty quiet and feels very calm. Getting off the plane, I kind of hurried ahead of my parents, and passed by the flight attendants who all said, "Arigato," while bowing. I was pretty ahead of my parents so when I got off, I waited for them. Looking back, they were the only white people in a sea of Asians. I couldn't help but laugh.

Anyway, we are in Tokyo, and I am sad we aren't staying here longer!

Now for some duty free shopping!

:)
Meryl

En route blog: The 6-Hour Mark

En route blog #1: The 6-hour mark.

I’m getting bored. So I thought I would share with you all the happenings of the past several hours. By the way, thank goodness they have a computer charger on this flight, I think I’m starting to annoy my poor father.

As we were walking to our gate, I spotted some Israelis, I think I have some sort of radar. There was an El Al flight leaving at the gate next to mine, and it made me think about the past two years. Two years ago, I went on Birthright, one of the most meaningful trips that I have ever taken. It was so meaningful that last year, I traveled to Israel again during the summer to visit friends.  I have recently heard from a few people from my Birthright trip wishing me safe travels, and it made me realize how much a 10-day trip changed my life and how many great friends I made on that trip, and it made me wonder what’s in store for me on this 10-day trip.

We got to our gate, got situated, and when the workers for the airline were letting us through the gate to the plane, the lady that works for Japan Airlines spoke to me in Japanese, saying “Konichiwa,” and then thank you in Japanese when she gave me my ticket back. My parents were spoken to in English. Though I didn’t understand her, she didn’t know that. I politely bowed and went on my way.

Six hours down, five more to go. Turns out that the flight to Japan is only 11 hours and some change – not bad. For the past few hours I’ve eaten, napped, and watched Joyful Noise (Note to Rachel Martin: I liked it!). Though I do like anything entertaining on flights longer than 2 hours. The movie got me a little teary actually, I’m such a sap. 

During the first hour on the flight, passengers are given two meal options: a Japanese meal or a Western meal. My mom went vegetarian because she wanted to play it safe with food allergies. My dad and I looked over the menu, looked at each other and said, “When in Rome (or Japan, rather).” Our first course consisted of a selection of nine seasonal Japanese delicacies. It was interesting because I had no idea what I was eating, until halfway through when my mom gave me the menu that showed what each delicacy was. Our main course was beef and tomato “Sukiyaki” style – whatever that means. It was delicious. Our meal came with steamed rice and miso soup.

When I land in 5 hours, I will be in Asia. It will be the farthest east I will have ever been in my life.

That’s all for now, friends! It’s dinnertime in the States, I’m getting hungry so I’m going to get a snack!

My snack: Udon noodles.. yum!

Until Tokyo!

Meryl

Here’s another funny food story relating to my childhood and being Korean: My parents wanted to take me to a Korean BBQ/hibachi restaurant when I was younger. I think I was about 6 or 7 at the time, and my mom looked up a Korean BBQ restaurant and found one in Simi Valley, California. When the waiter came over to order, I asked him if I could have a bagel with butter. There were my parents trying to give me a unique cultural experience, and I asked for a bagel. So embarrassing, what a confused child I was.

LAX

I completely forgot to mention something that I was thinking about during the drive from Thousand Oaks, CA to LAX. For the past couple weeks I have been researching Korean culture and I stumbled upon a Korean-Pop band that is actually pretty good. I forgot their name but I will post one of their songs later. We just checked out bags, went through security, and now we're relaxing a bit before boarding. While checking our bags, I picked up a pamphlet from Japan Airlines of what I assume is an entertainment schedule for their flights. I picked up the pamphlet, flipped through it, and didn't understand one word. Well, I understood the numbers. I'm sitting currently in the OneWorld lounge at LAX surrounded by business men and women. My dad, Howard is having some hummus and tabuli, as we wait to embark on our journey. I've been more emotional than I thought I would be. Within the past 24-hours, I've gotten a bit teary thinking of the trip that lies just an hour away. The thing is, I don't know what will happen within the next 10 days. I can't tell the future and all I can do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride. Maybe I should walk around a little before getting on such a long flight. 12 hours to Japan! My dad and I made a pact that when we are in Japan for just two and a half hours, we will go and eat sushi just to say that. Have eaten sushi in Japan. Thank you all for your kind words and feedback on my blog! I love hearing what you all think. Love, Meryl

Number 1 on my playlist

Every Tuesday I stalk Timeflies onYoutube, waiting for them to release their weekly video for "Timeflies Tuesday." Cal and Rez make an amazing duo, and they make awesome music. This is the latest video by them, a cover of Future's Same Damn Time (how precious is Cal's laugh? ...not creepy). Anyway, this song is my current song of the moment and if you know me, I get really into a song for about a week and then get annoyed with it (which is why it is so great that they come out with a new song every week). So I expect to be rockin' to this song for at least 5 hours. Ha!

Alright, I'm off to the airport! 

Next stop, LAX!

Meryl

This is it

In 8 hours I will wake up, finish packing and head to LAX. As I sit here in my room and look around, I immediately see The OC complete Season 2, a certificate of recognition from the California State Assembly for the Holocaust Remembrance Project, a Jonas Brothers poster, the hamsa above my bed, and my trusty teddy bear, Teddy. In this moment I realize that there is no difference between me and any of my other friends who were raised here in Thousand Oaks, California -- except my skin color.

I try to explain this out-of-body experience to people, but sometimes they don't understand. I don't feel Korean. When I talk to someone on the street, when I am out and about, I don't feel Korean. If anything, I'm just a brown haired, brown eyed girl. I don't think about my race because I'm American. But the reality of it is that I am not a white American. Though at times I don't feel Asian, racist jokes still hurt. People that don't know me can't tell my history from my exterior, and people that do know me, think that I don't care because of my history. Though I don't feel Korean, I am Korean. It's a weird feeling. 

Over the past few days, people have told me, "I hope you find what you are looking for." The truth is, I'm not looking for much. I'm looking to see where I was born, learn about the culture, and the history of the place, and maybe learn a little bit of my own history. Honestly, how can I complain? I am living a privileged life. Right this moment, I could be living in Korea with a very different lifestyle. I was born in a town that is so small, so remote, it doesn't exist anymore. My dad jokes and says that I'm a "country girl."

Though, it would be nice to find out my family medical history.

Yesterday I was swamped with doctors appointments. I hadn't been to the dentist since 2010, and I hadn't been to the eye doctor since 2005. With my absence for the past few years, came new paperwork to fill out at the doctor's office. And with that paperwork came questions of my family medical history. I have never known, nor will I ever know my biological family's medical history. Family medical history would be nice to know, in case I have to expect anything.

A couple of last minute, late night thoughts before hitting the hay.

Goodnight friends, and until tomorrow!

xx (that one's for you, Tavia),

Meryl

TOMORROW

Amidst packing and organizing and last minute errands, the pure excitement is finally settling in. In less than 24 hours, I will be heading to Los Angeles International Airport to embark on this incredible journey. I already have my outfit planned for the airplane and I am about 80% finished with all of my packing.

This is my flying outfit. When flying we all just want to be comfortable, but who says we can't look cute too? My shirt is the best oversized tee and it is so comfortable! My jeans are more like jeggings (I know, I know -- but they're unbelievably comfy). And finally, I always wear sneakers on the plane, and bring comfy socks, too.

Shirt: Brandy Melville

Jeans: Seven for All Mankind

Shoes: Superga

Ahhh so much to do, so little time! I can't believe tomorrow's the day!

Lots of love everyone!

Until tomorrow,
Meryl

"Tomorrow I can say, 'Tomorrow!'"

Two days before every trip I take I say, "Tomorrow, I can say, 'Tomorrow!'" It's just another one of my stupid sayings.

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