For those of you with dusty fingers...

To all my crate diggers and audiophiles out there. Seoul is a great place for record shopping. LP Love in Hoehyeon Underground Shopping Center isn’t my favorite record store, they don’t sell 45s (the name should have tipped me off), and the guy working there isn’t all that friendly. But they got some great rock and Jazz LPs and prices are low enough for a cheap guy like me. It’s worth checking out.
-Matt

The first half of the most amazing 24 hours in my life.

Hello!

So much has happened since I last posted. For now, I will just write about the flight experience from Minneapolis to Seoul.



I got the the airport 3 hours early, and I was really anxious about flying so it was a long wait especially when the 4 hour delay was added! At first what was horrible news, turned out to be an amazing oppurtunity to meet people from around the world.

I ended up meeting a girl named Ami who need help using the free food vouchers we received. She is really awesome, and he had many similar interests. She is from Japan, but told me when I visit Tokyo we can hang out.

I was pretty nervous on the flight, but all went well...I could hardly sleep, but it actually did seem like a 12 hour flight. I meet a nice couple sitting next to me. They were very interested in my teaching in Korea, and they were nice to talk to.

Eventually, we landed in Japan which is where the confusion began. Anyone with a connecting flight had easily missed it, and the local time in Japan was 10 pm. Not many flights leaving the airport. I had no idea what to do so I just followed people who I guessed looked Korean. They started standing in a line, and I asked one guy if he was going to Seoul. Lucky for me he was. I asked if I could follow him and his friends until I knew what was going on. He told me his name was Ben and he was a student at the U of M, and he is just going back to Korea for a few months for summer vacation. We talked a lot, and he introduced me to all of his classmates who were really cool. They asked me why I was going to Korea, and they were surprised it was for teaching because they thought I was a designer based on my looks. (?) They didn't really know what to do either, as neither of us could speak Japanese, but eventually we took a shuttle bus to our free 500 dollar hotel. I my new group of friends at the hotel's restaurant for our free 40 dollar dinner which was amazing. The food quality was great and it was all you can eat.

After dinner I went back to my room and watched the amazing Japanese TV and took the best bath in my life.


To be continued......

Leaving for Korea in 15 hours!

Greetings!

I will be leaving for Korea in 15 hours which gives me unbelievable feelings. I intend for this to be a travelogue which will allow friends and family to see what my new life in Korea is/will be like.

I am sure next time I update there will be plenty of stories about the flight over and what settling into my new place was like!