February 15: Arrival in Daejeon

I arrived at Incheon Airport just outside of Seoul at about 6 p.m. local time on Friday the 13th after an easy 12 hour flight.

I don’t know how you feel about going through customs and immigration after a long day in the air, but it’s pretty high up on my list of “ways I will punish mine enemies.” But the process in Incheon was the smoothest and easiest I’ve ever encountered. They actually let me into Korea!

When I came out of customs, Mr. Cho from Daejeon city government was waiting to meet me. We got into the van driven by Mr. Wu, also of Daejeon, and sped off into a monumental traffic jam.

Mr. Cho informed me that the drive to Daejeon, to the south of Seoul, would take about three hours by toll road. Given that it was already after midnight in Seattle, that was not welcome news, but Mr. Cho and I chatted as Mr. Wu finally broke free of the congestion. I have no recollection of what we talked about.

Halfway to Daejeon, of course, it was time to stop at a rest area (meaning food court) for some dinner. That was a good idea, since I had only eaten three times on the plane. Instead of McDonalds and Taco Bell, the food court consisted of people making actual food, usually involving rice or noodles. I had a plate of noodles with black bean sauce and a side dish of pickled radishes. That was 3500 Won (W3500), or a little less than three dollars.

After our meal Mr. Cho and Mr. Wu hung around outside having a smoke and then we were on our way again.

We pulled into Daejeon about 10 p.m. (that’s 5 a.m. in Seattle) and I got to meet my new landlady and sign the lease for my apartment. This mainly involved sitting around having tea and then my forking over W5,750,000. Yes, that‘s right, almost six million Won. Most of that—five million—is a “security deposit” which I was repeatedly assured I would get back when I leave. Of course, the lease was in Korean, so I might actually have promised to give them another five million next week, who knows? The remainder of the payment covered my first month’s rent and the obligatory “realtor’s fee,” the realtor being the landlady. Cash only, please, which meant that before leaving Seattle, I had to convert almost five thousand dollars into Won and then carry around six bricks of bills (the largest Korean note is 10,000) stashed in my pockets and laptop bag. It’s a system that seems to work quite well for everyone but the renter.

My apartment, on the 9th floor of the Hyundai Officetel, consists of a large room with a large bed, a desk, and a sort of box on wheels to sit on; a bathroom; and a kitchen area with a refrigerator, microwave, sink, and small cooking surface. The bed is hard and comfortable. The landlady generously contributed a pillow and blanket for the bed, and the Mayor of Daejeon provided a bouquet of flowers. Very nice.

On Saturday Mr. Cho volunteered to take me shopping so I could pick up a few things for my apartment. I met him in front of the building about 10 a.m. and we drove the two blocks to City Hall, parked, and went up to the 11th floor, where I will be working. There we had tea and waited for one of the women who works there. She would also be accompanying us—because, as Mr. Cho noted, it is good to have a woman along when buying things for the kitchen.

She arrived, we had more tea, and then drove to the shopping mall which is about a ten minute walk from my apartment. I bought a frying pan, some utensils, some soups and noodles and cooking oil, oranges, yogurt, broccoli, carrots, tofu, a couple of bowls—the usual stuff for setting up housekeeping. I was quite glad to have the help, because, while I recognize broccoli and oranges, a lot of packaged food is pretty mysterious if you can’t read the writing. The Korean alphabet is still impenetrable for me, and even if I could sound out the characters, I wouldn’t know what the words meant. I’m sure all that will change quickly.

We brought the goods back to my apartment and I was ready to crash, but was instructed that we all now had to go out for lunch. This consisted of driving to City Hall, walking to the restaurant, sitting cross-legged on the floor (which I am not very good at) and eating a large bowl of rice with various seaweed and jellyfish parts (which I am very good at.)

In the afternoon, alone and dazed, I wandered around my neighborhood a bit (not too far! I’m very afraid of getting lost, since I can’t read any of the street signs and all the buildings look the same to me.) Most of the stores and shops are very Korean, meaning I have no idea what they do or sell, but there does seem to be a sort of “western” strip across the street: the Paris Baguette, Hans & Bean (Coffee and Cake), Tous Les Jours, and on the corner, a tall building with a North Face store and a Starbucks. I took some pictures.

Today, Sunday, I wandered farther and still somehow made it home. In keeping with my commitment to be as Korean as possible while in Daejeon, I even bought a baguette at Paris Baguette. Pretty good, actually!