Travels to Korea

In Korea and safe!

(For PICTURES, please click this link: http://flickr.com/photos/56841549@N00/ )

We are going to start this post by saying, for the record, that good-byes are terrible, horrible things. But to look at the silver lining on the dark cloud, we are blessed – so very blessed – to have the most amazing family and friends in the world. Although not everyone could see us off from the airport, we have a full knowledge of just how much we are loved. Good-byes wouldn’t be hard unless the love runs deep – it does.

(It goes without being stated that we’re looking forward to the day when good-byes will no longer exist. Certainly not in the way they exist now.)

Tuesday night Beth-Anne’s dad and cousin Brianna came and stayed at Matthew’s house—and then they along with his parents came to the airport—where Kristin met us.

Well, the good-byes and hugs were shared, and the tears flowed freely – whether external or internal – so it was time for us to begin our long journey.

Flight 1 – Dulles Airport (Washington D.C.) to Detroit, Michigan

We have to say that the airport in Detroit is the most unique airport either of us has ever been in. Trains, traveling high up above the people within the terminal, are bright red. The underground passage-way from one terminal to the next played weird music and sounds (techno-like at times) with bizarre displays of light and color in the walls and ceiling.

Flight 2 – Detroit, Michigan to Tokyo, Japan (12 hours on a Boeing 747)

This flight went on and on and on. Unfortunately, despite its longevity, neither of us were able to sleep for more than an hour or two. However, the cool thing about it all was that instead of flying straight across the ocean, as a result of the earth’s curvature, we flew up through Canada, over Alaska, and down along (near) the Asian coast to Japan. We saw Alaska! Some of the mountain tops peeked above the clouds. Magnificent.

During the flight we watched movie after movie, and walked around the plane a dozen times. At one point in the journey, Matthew found himself talking to a professor at a college in Michigan. They talked a bit about education and morality in the schools. Both agreed that without morality and ethics being present in the school, true education is severely hindered.

Once we were in the Tokyo airport, we both looked around for shirts that said Japan, or Tokyo on them. We were successful! (See pictures)

Flight 3 – Tokyo, Japan to Seoul (Incheon), South Korea

This flight was the only one that was delayed. There was lots of rain and so the airport and stopped letting airplanes take off, so when we were allowed there was over and hour wait because of the line up.

This flight definitely had the most turbulence and at one point it was like we’d hit a pocket of air and the plane felt like it just dropped a few feet in midair. It was pretty scary.

We had ordered vegetarian meals but it was humorous to watch everyone else get sushi meals (they put them together themselves) and we got hoggies. Really weird. Beth-Anne wishes we’d had the sushi.

We finally made it to Korea! When our last baggage was claimed we were SO happy! It was good to know that we, as well as all our luggage had made it. Then we went towards the exit area and looked for a sign that would indicate to us that we were to go with them. Walking into the arrival area we saw the SDA Language Institute sign and another wave of relief hit us. We were warmly welcomed by the coordinators and leaders of SDALI, and met others who were arriving as well – many of whom we had been traveling with for the entire trip, even from Dulles, without realizing it!

It took about over an hour to drive from the airport to where we would be staying for the next week and a half, for orientation. The signs are in English and Korean thanks to the World Cup that was played here—we are indebted to soccer for life now… =)

As we drove in the middle of the night, Matt noticed dozens of illuminated red crosses scattered throughout Seoul. These are obviously enough many of the Christian churches in the area.

We finally made it!

We will post more details about the place shortly.