ASSA~! I have arrived in South Korea and am getting settled into living/working here.
Although, the journey here did not run smoothly. I was scheduled to fly on United 239 from New Orleans (MSY) to LAX and then from LAX to Seoul Incheon on Asiana OZ 201. I didn't realize that nightmare that I was in for.
When I arrived at the New Orleans International Airport, I felt good about my upcoming adventure. This is what I have been planning and waiting for. When I got to the United ticket counter at 4:33 am, the woman received my passport and asked how long I was staying for. I proudly told her a year and that I had a work visa. She then asked me for my alien card. I told her that I am going to get it when I go over. At 4:52 am, I was informed that I could only stay in Korea for three months and that I needed proof of a return ticket. If I didn't have these things, then I would not be allowed on the flight to Seoul. While flipping out and trying to talk to the travel agent who worked with my school to book the ticket (who was obviously not in the office so early in the morning), my mother convinced them to at least put me on the flight to LAX. So, I arrived at LAX at 8 am. I then had to wait until 11 am for the Asiana ticket counter to open.
Meanwhile, my mother contacted the travel agent who told her that everything would work out with Asiana. Apparently, technically, I need to an alien card to be allowed to stay in Korea for a year. However, because of the desire for foreign teachers, everyone turns a blind eye. Just as long as you get your alien card within three months, there's no problem. So, Asiana is used to providing air travel to foreign teachers and knows the drill. MSY employees, not so up on the procedure for teachers going over to teach in Korea.
So, thankfully, that got all sorted out. Also, Asiana only charged me $220 for two extra suitcases~! Lucky~! My mother and I were expecting something in the $400~ range.
So, I was finally approved to leave the country. However, my plane was an hour late in arriving at LAX. Then, we were an hour late in arriving in Seoul. By the time I went through immigration, got all four bags, went to Asiana to file a damage claim form (one of my suitcases was missing a wheel), and customs, it was three hours past the time I should have arrived. The school sent a taxi driver to pick me up and he had waited for me for all three hours. I don't know why the taxi company didn't monitor my flight info, but he was there at 6:25 pm. I didn't exit the arrival gate until 9:30 pm.
He was very nasty to me. He muttered all the way to the school about me being three hours late. I just decided to ignore him and feign ignorance of his Korean. We were stuck in traffic, which increased his hatred of me and my tardiness. Then, we got into an accident. This Mercedes kept trying to inch its way into our lane, so much so that when the taxi pulled forward, the two cars scraped each other. We then had to pull over while everyone yelled and screamed at each other. I just prayed that we get to the school as soon as possible.
When we finally reached the school, it was close to 11:30. The taxi driver threw out my bags, said bye, then took off, no doubt hoping to never hear from me again.
Min, one of the school administrators, had to stay until I arrived that night to greet me. T_T I felt so guilty and exhausted. But, for some reason, I still had the energy to unpack all of my suitcases and at least put things in their general place. Then, I passed out.
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