Annyeonghaseyo!

After a brief visit to San Francisco and two days on planes and buses we have made it to South Korea just at the tail end of the rainy season, boasting weather neither of us have ever experienced before. Matt and I left Bellingham Sunday morning, shortly after my mom found my passport and diploma in a box in the garage (THANK YOU!) and about an hour after Matt had gotten off the dance floor and realized all of his clothes were packed already in my Mom's car. Needless to say our send off was well lived, and vaguely remembered.
Airports have never suited Matt or I: too many details to remember, irritants such as cramped quarters, pushy people and muggy air quality, and now to add to the list of why airports are no fun is BAGGAGE RULES. Matt and my bags were not only too many, but they were each 15-20lbs overweight. Anyone else would have probably paid the extra cash to get them checked or managed to carry on an extra bag, but being stubborn and cheap we decided to unpack everything we now own and start auctioning things off in the SEA-TAC customs. First went my wig collection, then Matt's American flag shorts, flip-flops, nail Polish, ties, a few sacred books and then toiletries. As we were pulling things out of our bags we began criticizing one another for the packing choices the other had made. For instance Matt was surprised to see that I had bought packs of hamburger shaped erasers to bring to the Korean children we will be teaching, similarly to my feeling confused when I saw Matt pull out a scrapbook that I had made him a year ago and a 3lb cookbook. We collaboratively shaved off 28lbs through our combined efforts of giving things away and Matt wearing two pairs of pants, three t-shirts and a pair of extra shoes in his pockets onto the plane.

We spent two days in San Francisco with our Bellingham friends Elisa and Daniel, next to the beach, visiting the SF MOMO, and at Daniel's climbing gym. The pacific coastal breeze is held tight in our memory and hearts as we grow accustomed now to a very new climate with 90 percent humidity and sudden bursts of torrential downpour, where praying mantis come out to fly through our dorm and the air weighs down our skin with a thick and pungent scent of everything foreign to us now.

After arriving in the Incheon airport Matt and I spent two hours moving through customs, baggage claim and finally boarded a bus that would take us and other teachers on the four our trip to Jeonju University. At 2am the bus was silent and asleep, Matt and his amazing ability to sleep anywhere on my shoulder and I wide eyed awake watching the small Korean man swerve into oncoming traffic, slapping his bare feet against the floor (On the beach in San Fran) and dash board in rythm with the

Mamma Mia soundtrack and singing out the only words he knew: "Mamma mamma mamma". We will be at "Teacher Camp" for the next ten days, held at Jeonju University in South Korea learning basic Korean, how to teach english to our students and acclimating to the culture. We have spent only one very sleepless night here, but so far are really enjoying hearing travel stories from the 500 teachers here for training and making wonderful connections for the upcoming year. We will write again as soon as we get some sleep, until then, annyeonghi jumuseyo!

-Matt and Emily