Korea

We finally made it. It is Saturday morning at 8:15 here. In SLC, it is Friday 5:00pm. Yesterday was an eventful day. I can't upload any pictures, but want to keep a journal. Pictures will have to come later.

We left our home at 2:30 am on April 24. We stayed the night at my parents, and left for the airport at 6:00am. Our flight left SLC to San Francisco at 8:30 am. As soon as we touched down in San Fran, I called my brother, Jason, to see where he was. He was supposed to be on a flight that arrived about the same time as me. He answered his phone, and told me he had slept in and missed his flight. The second flight he was supposed to be on, would only arrive 1 hour before our flight left to Korea. Unfortunately, his plane in San Diego got a flat tire, and was delayed 1 hour. Hopefully he is now on the plane to Korea. He had to wait a whole 24 hours in San Francisco before he could get on the next flight. AUGGGHHHHH! Hopefully he learned a lesson.

We met up with Mike and Maria and got on the plane for our eternally long flight. It really was SO long. I think I would prefer to be in a car with all 4 kids for 12 hours. It was partly due to the fact that the flu ALL of my kids had the previous week, finally caught up with me. My stomach was upset, and I couldn't get comfortable enough to sleep. After 5 hours on the plane, we still had 7 hours left! I think I'm buying sleeping drugs for the flight home. It seriously, was hard for me. On the descent into Korea, lightning struck right outside the plane window. SCARY!

Customs here was AMAZINGLY a breeze. The second we stepped foot into the baggage claim, it smelled like Asia. Or China town. All our luggage was retrieved, and we were off to rent cell phones. Aparently, Korea doesn't use the same Cell network as most countries, and just to have our cell phones on, would end up charging HUGE fees. Cell phone rental is $3 a day (or about 3000 won). To call the US, it is 750 won (75 cents). Between us all, we rented 3 phones. We were planning on taking a charter bus to the hotel costing 9000 won (I'll let you do the math now) per person. A taxi driver - dressed in a suit - the nicest looking cabi I've ever seen - said, I have a van, I can take you. He wanted to charge us 100000 ($100). We told him, NO, we will take the bus. Finally, we agreed on 60000 ($60)- only about 600 ($6)more won than the bus. After my stomach on the plane, I wasn't real excited about hopping in a bus, so we agreed. Well, this guy drove like a bat out of hell! Zipping in and out of traffic. It was crazy. So, not only is he driving crazy, but he flips this screen on, that's mounted to his front windshield. I'm thinking it's a GPS. NO! It's a TV. He turns it on, the volume is up as high as possible, and he watches it! As we're passing everyone around, we notice that's normal. All the other cars are watching tv as well. CRAZY! Well, we got to the hotel, and he asks for $90! WHAT? We argued for a bit, then gave him $85. (It was definitely an Amazing Race moment). We walked in the lobby, and saw David waiting! Yea! He looks really good. His boobs are bigger than mine - he's been working out a ton. Doing Brazilian Jijitsu. We talked in the room for a LONG time, and then Troy and I headed to our room, Mike and Maria went to stay with David. It was 10:00 pm Korean time. So, we slept until about 6:45 this morning. We woke up and went to the fitness center in the hotel. It is SO nice! It's like a real gym! Weights, treadmills. It felt so good to exercise after the long - sitting all day - day yesterday. The towels smelled like "asia" and it was killing me to wipe my face off. I guess you could say, my stomach is still not feeling that great. Do they use wierd soap or something...I'm going to try to get to the bottom of the "asian" smell...anyways, I ran for 15 minutes on the treadmill without stopping - I tried to run as fast as I could, and still maintain it for 15 minutes. I went about 2.5 km, maybe a little less. Heidi, I thought you'd be proud. We did weights, then called it good. We showered, and now are enjoying our free breakfast, courtesy of my dad's Diamond Hilton status. The computers I am on are free as well, due to this. As was the fitness club. SWEET! I'm really excited to be here now. I'm not feeling sleep deprived. I'm excited to hang out with my brothers and Maria! I guess the olympic torch comes through Seoul tomorrow. ㅓ두 That was Jen in Korean. More later...Kyle, Jake, Kristin, and Haley...We Miss you! We love you! Be good!