The Return

I am a little behind on my blog right now, so this is the one I meant to post about my journey back to Korea.

The journey started rather eventfully, but not in a good way.  I was waiting to check in and when it came to my turn I handed over my passport along with my e-ticket.  I had assumed all would be well, after all I had my Korean visa in my passport and recent legislation has been passsed to allow native teachers the right to return to the country without applying for a multiple entry visa on top.  However the guy behind the counter told me thi9s was not the case and disappeared for 20mins.  He returned with his supervisor and I was told that I would not be able to return to Korea with the information I was providing them.  I cast about and could think of nothing to help my cause.  So I moved onto another guy, since we were told he may be able to help me.  At this point he asked me if I was a resident and I responded I was not, because I was working in the country on an E-2 visa.  However moments later I remembered that I had my alien registration card on me.  I slipped it out of my wallet and handed it over hoping dearly that it would suffice...and luckily it did.  It proved that I was living in Korea and that I had a job there.  I did not know this was the procedure, but regardless I felt a complete idiot for not realising, plus I had made my journey begin on a very bad note.

I said goodbye to the last parts of my family that had come to see me off.  My auntie and uncle (Margaret and David) and my cousins (Martin and Tania).  I found it very difficult to say goodbye to them, because although I had only been there just under two weeks, I had experienced something rather traumatic with them and it had brought us together very quickly.

So by the time I made it through security I was already somewhat sweaty from the fear that I would be stuck in the country and because the day had been burningly hot.  I sat down and waited for my slightly delayed flight to come in.  Most shops in the airport were closed and there was some evident damage to the building from the recent earthquake.  But I got up in the air shortly after that.

From there I went to Aukland and I quickly changed over to my next flight.  I got on the plane bound for Osaka and settled in for the long haul.  Luckily I had been able to secure myslef an aisle seat here, so I had the addition of aisle space should I wish to stretch out for a short while.  This flight was not exactly eventful, but there was an amazingly camp air host and I think he is just worth mentioning because he was as camp as any sterotypical gay guy you might see on tv, but he was actually real!

Once I landed in Japan I had about 5 hours to kill, but I was able to find a place to get free access to the internet and there was a plug point, so I was able to use my laptop.  I great way to kill time and contact people to let them know I was okay.  Plus it was totally out of the way, so it was not busy, which meant I was able to pack up grab something to eat and come back and there was still plenty of space for me.

Then there was the final flight back to Korea, again this was less than eventful, which is exactly what you want out of a flight.  However once I landed in Korea, there came the interesting part.  I had to figure out how I was going to get back to my home.  I approached the help desk and the woman gave me the number of some busses I could take, although I was completely unsure of when to get off and I was not really in the adventuring spirit by this point.  I was sleep deprived, smelly and looked like a tramp and I was carrying an obscenely large bag.  Anyway I hopped on a bus and when I thought I saw a metro link up ahead I jumped off the bus.  Thankfully I was correct, although I had in fact gotten off before the person at the airport had suggested I should.  Anyway from there I knew how to make it home, it was just a pain and added about 3hrs onto my journey in all.  Bus - Subway - Subway - Bus.

When I finally made it back to my town I trundled through the back streets to get back to my flat and met plenty of stares.  However these were not the standard stares I may meet in Korea, these were undoubtedly because I was now sporting a beard.  I still had my earthquake beard affixed.  So basically by not removing it before returning to Korea I had made myself the most despicable human they had probably seen, since I am white and I am told that having facial hair immediately makes you ugly in Korean's eyes.

Anyway, that is the story of my return to Korea.