why does everyone think i'm korean?

Yea. I don't get it.

So I'm in Korea now! Yippee! My body feels confused and wants to sleep but there's so... much... daylight. My first flight was pretty uneventful and I sat next to man that reminded me of my dad, except much older and very worn from divorce. It was pleasant enough talking to him until he started telling me horror story upon horror story of unlucky travelers who always either were kidnapped, killed or both. And he concluded every story with, "And you're traveling by yourself. Tsk tsk. Be careful!" Don't need to tell me that twice. I didn't pack my glittery American flag t-shirt, and I don't fancy taking strolls down dark alleys, so I think my chances of kidnapping and murder are not as bad. Or at least I am actively taking steps to avoid such fates. Okay, I'm going to stop talking about this because it's depressing.

This all still feels very surreal. My mind keeps going in and out of focus whenever I start thinking about this trip, and how it's officially started. It's weird looking around and not seeing many ethnicities outside of the Asian variety (a fellow American traveler exclaimed to his companion, "Where are all the other white people?!" Needless to say, I loled), but I suppose that's something I'll have to get used to. I also keep looking at the circular logos for Korean Air and seeing the Pepsi symbol. I think I'm just tired. Aaaaand my computer is about to die so I'm going to cut this short. I'll write more later when I finally land in Manila, which will be on September 15th at 11pm. Whew. That's a long way from now. Well, one cool thing about that, at least to my friends in the states: I'll be writing FROM THE FUTURE. So cool.

Well, ahn nyung hee ke se yo (bye in Korean)! It's interesting because to say goodbye in Korean, it either translates to specifically address someone in a place where they are staying and you are leaving or someone who is leaving a place where you are staying. Ohhhh languages! They're so magical! I need to sleep.

P.s. The photos, by the by, are of the traditional Korean lunch that I ate on the plane. I loved that it came with an instruction card. And the chili paste came in a tube that looked like toothpaste. I wanted to save it for future pranks (it could totally pass for cinnamon toothpaste) but alas, I fell asleep and they took my tray away. Wah.