well, i’m finally here in Seoul after an 11 hour flight from Seattle that seemed to go faster than i thought it would. Korean Air is nice with many free recent movies to watch 🙂 i’ll back up a bit to explain some stuff; i quit Sega back on August 1st (sorry guys), and then moved up to my parents house in Washington state where i stayed for almost 4 weeks. i spent most of my time reorganizing things i brought with me, making many address changes, and then packing everything for the big move. one handy thing to get if you decide to move, are vacuum seal bags that can compress clothing very well. but now i have a very wrinkly wardrobe XD

so anyway, i made it here last friday night and met up with David (성률) and Hyeyun (혜윤). they took me into Seoul from the airport (which is actually in Incheon). Hyeyun had to meet up with her boyfriend, so David, me, David’s mom, sister and 2 friends went out for dinner at some BBQ place which was good. David’s friend, Cheongeun, let me use his extra cell phone until i can get my own. i was feeling exhausted and went to bed soon after i got back.

yesterday, David and his girlfriend helped me to learn how to find my way to and from the subway station near his house. the neighborhoods here are very maze-like–no easy grid system. and it’s definitely a challenge when you don’t know the language too! on the subway, David helped me understand how the whole spider-web works. i’ve only been used to BART in California, so having now to deal with 12 different subway lines all crossing over each other is pretty tough too. especially with the transfer stations. a lot of the signs have english for the subway stops helps, but it’s still pretty complex. we went to a department store, then got sushi, and then wandered around David’s university. it feels much much safer in this big city at night (from where i’ve been so far) than in San Francisco (sorry to say).

today i made my way alone to the subway and rode it a ways to meet up with Hyeyun who helped me find where my church was at. she didn’t stay, so i was on my own. thankfully, some of the missionaries there were from the US and helped translate for me. i was able to introduce myself in Korean. it was probably clunky sounding, but they seemed to understand for the most part. a few people there know some english to hold conversations. the bishop there already found an older couple who just got a new apartment and are willing to rent out one of the 3 extra rooms to me for about $300 a month. i will be checking it out next sunday. David told my friday night that he thinks all the apartments near Yonsei University (where i’ll be going to school) are either way too expensive, or are already taken… so i was feeling a bit stressed about where i can live, but now with this new opportunity, i feel much much less worried about everything. David and his family are very very kind and generous, but there house is too small for another person and i don’t want to overstay my welcome. actually, all the Koreans i’ve met so far have been very kind and helpful to me 🙂

i’ll try to take some pics and get them uploaded soon