13 hours from now in a megalopolis far, far away...

...the adventure begins.

(Actually, I've been here for 4 days now, but this is the first meaningful internet access I've had, so we'll just pretend. And for those of you who don't know, I'll recap the story so far. I've signed a one year contract to teach English in Seoul, South Korea. My trusty cat Mango has asked to come along and I said yes. I moved out of my overpriced apartment in Edina and spent the last few days with friends and family in DL and Fargo. By the way, thank you so much to all who made it to the going away "party" that we had at my mom's house. It was very kind of you all to make the trip! Back to the story. My flight left Fargo's Hector Inter(hah!)national airport at 5:40 am, Sunday August 24th...)

Flight #1 - Fargo to Chicago - United -

Short but excruciating. Mango was doing great for the first half of the flight so I gave her a few pieces of food as a reward. Big mistake! As we descended, she proceded to freak out, bite a hole in her carrier, and puke(although silently!). The lady in the seat beside me "volunteered" to move to the back of the plane to balance the weight. How nice of her.

5 hour Layover, aka. the calm before the storm - I ate pizza. Deep dish of course.

Flight #2 - Chicago to Seoul - Korean Air -

Have you ever been deprogrammed from being in a cult? I'm guessing that this is what it feels like. I sat in an uncofortable little seat, forced to stay awake(by my own brain), and had nothing to watch but REALLY bad movies. (Warning - do NOT rent Be Kind, Rewind). On the plus side, they had complimentary beer and wine. Not too shabby! The food was okay and they kept the snacks coming. Mango had given up her will to live at this point, staring achingly up from the kitty-fetal position at the bottom of her carrier. This was, in fact, a good thing. Though it may have emotionally scarred her for life, it meant that she didn't let out even one little meow until we landed.

We got off and out quickly and my bags weren't far behind. We breezed through the passport check, customs, and kitty quarantine(with a free luggage cart! what a country!). I exchanged my dollars for what I think are Chuck E. Cheese gift certificates, and headed to the English teacher staging area. About 15 or so other teachers were there waiting. The people with clipboards herded us "cattle" **foreshadowing** into a bus and off we went. It was an hour ride into town. While many people were chatting and getting to know each other, I was mesmerized by what was out the windows; the funky-looking aparment buildings and the biggest bridge that I've ever seen. We arrived at meeting point #2, where representatives from the various schools were there to shuttle us to point #3. My people weren't there yet, but that was fine. I was just glad to NOT be watching Jack Black try too hard to be funny.

The 2 teachers from my school eventually came and brought Mango and myself on another 1 hour trip to Nowon, the northeast district of Seoul in which I would be teaching. My school is called Joongwan Middle School. Yes, I said "middle school". It's a good thing I have all of that "middle school" experience, huh? At this point it was my turn to give up the will to live. Things become a little blurry here. I remember the man living up to the "in your face questions" stereotype by asking every personal and professional question under the sun. He meant no ill will. I had read that many people here like to get straight to the point and know where you stand. They said that the teacher that I was replacing would be staying in the apartment for one last night before his flight in the morning, which was fine.

Around 10:00 we arrived at the apartment, called an Officetel. The teachers left, I freed Mango, and I proceeded to shower 6600 miles worth of stink off. The old teacher, a 60-year-old named Bender, wanted to show me around the neighborhood a bit before bed. I had to get to bed early, you see, because I WAS EXPECTED TO BE AT WORK AT 8:10 THE NEXT MORNING! Do you get the cattle reference now?

We wandered down the street for a bit, but to be honest, I remember none of his little tips except that there is a good acupuncture place next door that I can go to for $7 on my health plan.
I laid down in my bed (No choice really. I can't stand up in my bedroom.) and slept.....for 3 hours.

~~~That's all for now! What will happen to our hero next??? Will Tony get a part-time job bartending at Fridays or did he forget his flair at home? Will Bender turn out to be a decent guy or will he have left the apartment in a layer of sludge? Will Mango ever forgive Tony for the flight or will all be forgotten the first time her food dish is filled?

Tune in next time to find out!!!

~tony