Our trip started at 5:00 AM on January 1. Fearing lots of fog, we gave ourselves plenty of time to drive to Wichita to catch an 8:00 AM flight. The fog in Wichita, however, was not the problem. Bad weather in Dallas caused our flight to remain grounded in Kansas. Around 3:00 PM, we finally were on a flight headed to Chicago rather than Dallas and then to Portland where we would have to spend the night.
Shortly after 12:00 noon on the following day, our international flight left Portland and headed north toward the Bering Sea. From our plane, we could see beautiful snow-covered mountains; and at one point after crossing from one continent to another, the window framed a volcano spewing a cloud into the crystal blue sky. Following three movies, two meals, and a snack, we crossed Japan and headed toward Seoul.
Unlike today’s ultramodern Inchon airport, the international airport in Korea in 1997 was at Kimpo; and my main impression was one filled with stark white walls, marble floors, and quietness. The Korean passengers in their tailored, dark-colored winter coats with fur collars or woolen scarves wrapped around their necks seemed so intent on their own business, often cutting in front of us and never making direct eye contact with us. I wondered if this hushed, impersonal presence would come to typify part of the Korean culture.
We had known after receiving our new itineraries in Kansas that the U.S. airlines had not been able to rebook our Korean domestic flight from Seoul to Pusan. We had been told that we would have to negotiate that change once we arrived in Korea. So, after being processed through Korean immigrations and customs, we proceeded to the ticket counter to explain our situation and see what could be done concerning our domestic flight.
A flight to Pusan was available and would be leaving soon, but we would each have to pay a four-thousand won penalty for changing our tickets! Upon hearing the amount of the penalty, my nerves came almost totally unraveled. I was not used to computing spur-of-the-moment money transactions in thousands. We were on a tight budget, and I certainly did not want to have to add an outrageous penalty to the column marked “unexpected expenditures” that already contained the Portland hotel bill. However, after a quick review of the won-dollar exchange rate, I was relieved when my mental calculations indicated that the penalty would cost each of us only about five US dollars.
Our host families and school officials were anxiously waiting for us in the Kimhae Airport in Pusan. Their school office was closed for the New Year holiday so they had not received the fax that had been sent telling about our change of flights and 24-hour delay. Likewise, our school office had been closed for the holidays when our Korean hosts had frantically called Kansas from the Korean airport to try to find out what had happened to us. This was their fifth trip to the airport, and some were harboring doubts that we would ever show.
When we finally emerged into the lobby of the airport and found our welcoming party, relief was written on everyone’s faces. They were relieved that we had not been totally lost and stranded in a foreign airport somewhere between the US and Korea; and we were relieved that our destination, even though foreign to us, had finally been reached.
As we exited the airport with our host families, my instinct told me that my limited experience with international travel and ESL teaching had probably not prepared me adequately for what I was about to encounter. The next four weeks were filled with customs I did not know, food I could not even recognize, and students, who more often than I wanted to admit, gave me completely blank looks. At times it was an ordeal, but we all survived.
