Notes from the plane

After a hurried day of too many last minute errands, we were whisked off to the airport by some friends, boarded a plane and have landed in Seoul, an airport with free wi-fi. Just about an hour left until we board the plane for China!

With a personal TV screen where I can choose the movies and even fast forward, pause, and reverse them, even a long flight to the other side of the world goes by so quickly. I chose Sex and the City 2, The Backup Plan, and most of I Am Love (the last watched in Korean with English subtitles in a half-hearted attempt to get some listening practice).

The lady behind me has no regard for the fact that she bumps the back of my chair often. At first, because I'm irritated by the strains of the day, this bothers me and I consider giving her a look. I then decide that it won't bother me until she starts to poke my elbow when she puts her toes on the armrest. I retaliate to this by sliding my elbow a little further back.

After a dinner of bibimbap (the surprisingly good meal that Korean Air is known for), a movie and some good sleep, I wake up to find a snack size Three Musketeers bar in my shoe. I think that Colin put it there for me until I also find a half consumed ring pop stuck to my sock and realize these treats have been dropped by the 5 year old girl in front of me. Colin later wakes up to an unopened yogurt in his shoe and we feel like we've been visited by a Dutch Santa.

We disembark and find our gate, which is just next to a Starbucks. Colin fishes out some leftover Korean money he's been saving to fund my last latte for a while. The coins and bills he hands me used to be a normal part of life here but now feel odd. I speak to the Starbucks guy in my simple Korean, though, to mark this first step back into my foreign world.