First of all, the plane ride was unbearably long. It was 13 1/2 hours
from Chicago, on a 747 that was full -- no empty seats at all. I tried
to sleep, but I found it next to impossible (besides, I had to stay up
and watch the movies on the flight!) This was definitely the worst part
of the whole trip; it felt very claustrophobic, I was surrounded by
babies,
and the flight was incredibly dehydrating. (Korean Air serves free
coctails on
the plane -- even free wine with dinner -- but I found that all I wanted to
drink was a gallon of water...)
Steve & Betsy, my friends in Seoul who teach English, met me at
Kimpo airport, and we took a 'limousine bus' (very comfy) back to their
apartment. My first impressions of Seoul were of neon and bad drivers.
The city seems entirely composed of neon lights, so it looked amazingly
colorful -even oddly beautiful- that night I arrived. Bright blinking
Koran words lit up the sky (as well as a few signs I could actually read:
Coca-Cola, Hyundai...). And I couldn't help but notice the nutty
Korean-style of driving on the freeway. The highway is divided into about
6 lanes each way, but the lines on the street don't seem to mean anything.
If a driver spies a space on the road that approximates the width of a
car, they use it, making a 6-lane highway up to 8 or 9 cars wide. Very
scary! And they change 'lanes' unexpectedly, too. I thought I was going
to have a heart-attack...I decided right then and there to never attempt
to drive in that town!! (Besides the fact that I can't read the street
signs!!)
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I also noticed right away that the Koreans love their TV. When I
arrived at the airport, there were a few TVs in the waiting area, and up
to 20 people were gathered around each one, just staring at the
monitors. There was even a TV in the limousine bus! Throughout my
visit to Seoul, I compiled a videotape of Korean TV... they broacast some
really bizarre stuff (for example, 'hypnotizing' shows, where the host would
put
volunteers from the audience in a trance and make them do embarrassing
things in front of the camera)
Check out this 'Tower of TVs' that was on display at a local museum!!
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