Day 1: Seoul is surprisingly familiar!

 30 hours later, I’m finally ready for bed and have a few minutes to journal my day! It started with an early wakeup call as my flight to Toronto boarded at 5:10 am. The plane rides to both Toronto and Vancouver went smoothly and I was able to take in the breath taking snow -capped rockies for one last time as I flew out of the country. The flight from Vancouver to Seoul went gruellingly slow. With a little assistance from some extra strength ‘Sleep-ez’ I was able to nod off on the plane for a few hours.

Finally as the plane passed over the outer edges of the country, the flight got interesting. Picture any Asian watercolour portrait of mountains that you’ve seen - that’s what I saw! There was a little misty layer of clouds hovering above jagged black mountain peaks that seemed to dissolve into a faint grey into the ground; it was an absolutely inspiring landscape, that to my delight didn’t change much as we traversed into the country. Seoul is surrounded by mountains and buildings seem to effortlessly fall within and around them. This surprised me after having spent time in Shanghai and seeing any ‘natural’ green for the duration of my stay.

After proceeding through customs and collecting our bags we managed to find the ‘limo bus’ we were instructed to take to meet a school coordinator. Immediately when I stepped outside of the airport, that familiar smell I described in my Shanghai blog (www.sarahsfyishanghai.blogspot.com) as being what one would typically expect  from a ‘giant Asian city’ reappeared. My mind was racing with China memories (and still is with every inhale). It’s weird to be back; in a way I feel as though I have been to Seoul even though I’ve never set foot in Korea before; everything feels surprisingly familiar. We arrived at a very ‘classy’ (and I use the term loosely as you will see by my pics!) hotel next to Gangnam station.  T-cards were purchased and loaded for the subway and a first ‘Korean’ meal at Burger King was eaten. Now I’m ready for bed – waiting for all the adventures that await me tomorrow as I venture off to my new job as an ESL teacher for PSA academy. Sending you all sweet dreams from my lavender and golden rod – gilded walls this tired traveller is going to get some well needed rest