Friday, February 20, 2009

The Arrival

The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was long.

The flight from Detroit to Tokyo was boring and cramped.

The flight from Detroit to Tokyo had gorgeous Chinese and Japanese stewardesses and the movies they showed were a random lot consisting of The Longshots, Nights in Rodanthe, and High School Musical 3. The final one almost drove me into a rage just because of my aversions to all musicals made after Singing in the Rain. The Longshots however was quite enjoyable. I'm afraid I slept through the middle one. Some of the only sleep I could get due to the cramped surroundings and my proximity to the lavatory.

The food from America to Japan was pretty gross to be honest and mainly consisted of oily chicken served with oreo cookies and buttered muffins until I got to Tokyo and switched onto the next flight into Seoul. From there the meal was sushi and fresh fruit with green tea. This speaks volumes about the two cultures.

When I landed in Seoul it was 9:30PM. The immigration lines were not very long and after collecting up my guitar and luggage I made my way to the front of the airport to be picked up. By this time it was about 10:15pm and waiting at the greeting station was a throng of teenage Korean girls holding up a sign that took 9 different sets of hands greeting Jason Mraz. (Before this I had never heard of him but THEY certainly had.) There must have been at least forty of them screaming "Jay-SON! Jay-SON!" To the left of them was an elderly Korean man with thick glasses holding a white sign that read my name. When I walked through the doorway a couple young girls saw my guitar and brightened up immediately before then deflating and dismissing me as not the right white guy with a defeated sigh. This was a surreal experience to say the least.

Once greeted the driver handed me a cell phone and my recruiter who helped me secure my job at LCI Kids Club welcomed me over the phone and told me the elderly gentleman would be giving me a ride to my hotel where I would be temporarily staying until they had the apartment ready for me. She asked me to be sure to be up and in front of the hotel by 9:30am the next morning to go to the school for my first day. Walking out into snowing cold Korean night we loaded up his taxi, a white minivan with black leather interiors, and began the long drive from the airport to Yongin City, and the district I would be staying in, Suji.

This drive seemed to take forever. I noticed we kept gaining and losing momentum and once looking over the driver's shoulder I noticed the speedometer was broken. This was ironic since to the right of him was a touch screen LCD housing a state of the art GPS system guiding us down the "Seoul International Airport Highway" towards our destination. After an hour and a half and moderate nods in and out of consciousness we pulled up to the Metro 21 Hotel in what I assumed was Suji. The roads were a series of alleys and narrow enough for one car at a time. With the wetness and neon signs and steam from outdoor vendors surrounding me I felt like I was in Blade Runner. I thanked the driver and the front attendant helped me to my room. At this point it was midnight and I was somewhere between exhausted and wide-awake.

After a much needed shower I began to investigate my surroundings and noticed a zip-pouch that had Korean characters on it as well as the English phrase "Accommodation Supplies." In it were two toothbrushes, a razor, lotion, and a condom. At this point I noticed noises from through the walls and once outside in the hallway realized that people were having sex all around me. Ahh, this is a "luxury hotel," I realized. After walking outside and noticing the carports had drapes to conceal the cars within them, I assume so people- perhaps spouses- cannot know who is staying the night in the hotel, did I have my suspicions confirmed. This, the noises, and the neon sign across the street in the voluptuous shape of a woman on the adjacent hotel all helped.

A few hours later I drifted off to sleep in preparation of my first day at the new school. The sleep was about three hours long and the rest of the night and morning was spent staring at the ceiling in nervous anticipation...

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