Monday 29 October 2018
Monday or maybe Tuesday
Have we crossed the date line? I do not recommend taking a 5am flight to Korea or a 5am flight to anywhere. It means waking up at 2am to be at the airport at 3am, the required two hours before departure time. Fortunately, the Medford, Oregon, airport is small, and one can arrive at 3:30 or maybe even 4am and make it through Security and still be on time. Regardless, on the night before travel I am up at 2am, unable to go to sleep for fear of failing to wake up on time and/or dealing with the Surprise.
An unwritten law assures that no matter how long preparations for a long trip have been made, just prior to the last hours or the last day of leaving, there will be a Surprise. Surprises can be good, but good or bad, they assuredly obliterate the time required for planned preparations and ensure that one will not have the luxury of sleep prior to the hour of departure.
I also do not recommend sleeping or trying to sleep on the floor of the Seattle Airport during the very long six-hour layover between arriving at Seattle and departing for Seoul. But once loaded up and on board, I certainly can recommend Asiana Airlines. What an experience it is to fly in a beautiful airplane, with wide seats that really recline, the soft cushions a lovely tan, accented with soft rust colored pillows and darker tan blankets, a lovely palette of color, and this in economy class! No full figured stewardess here, but perfectly coiffed black haired young women dressed in elegant form-fitting suits, just a splash of color with the small scarf at the neck. When the women added the soft red aprons sprinkled with a flower splash design on the front – there were two types of aprons, one red and the others tan – I presume this didn’t indicate status but merely variation for the sake of elegant variety.
Lots of children on board, and against a bulkhead just in front of the parents were two bassinets for sleeping babies.
And then we had dinner, a choice of beef steak and mashed potatoes or Korean Bibimbap. My Japanese seat-mate asked for chopsticks with which to eat her beefsteak, but she was told chop sticks were not offered with beefsteak. In fact, chopsticks were not offered with Bibimbap either, but directions were. I was too excited to realize I should should take a photo of the vegetables before I mixed them with the rice and hot sauce. The steward recommended that I add only half the tube of the hot sauce. I added a soupçon, and that was more than enough. You can see how the mixed rice and vegetable look, and it was quite good. The pickles were daikon pickles similar to those my Japanese friend Tsutae San makes with rice vinegar, and they were delicious. The seaweed soup was so good, but just looks like clear water in life and also in the photo. Dessert was a universal KitKat bar, a bow no doubt to American taste – though the Koreans apparently love sweet things and put sugar on a grilled cheese sandwich.
Breakfast this morning was a chicken sandwich with a bit of onion and more fat roll than chicken, so good enough, and the lights have not been turned on, perhaps we are coming close to Incheon.
And so off to Korea, rather unprepared. The Surprise comes, Living things must be taken care of always. The plants must be watered and the dog must be fed. This means shopping and then there is sleeping and paying taxes and the Other that knocks out the rest of the time to be devoted to preparations for a trip to Korea. At least I know how to say “thank you” and “excuse me”. During the next ten days, surely I will learn more, maybe even catch up with all I had planned to do earlier. Somehow, it all works out.
Best wishes,
Miriam
