I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I'm really lucky to be teaching where I teach.
I've probably never said it before, but I'll say it now: Airports are soul-sucking pergatories.
Knowing that Ty was due back from South Africa on Thursday night, I had asked for Friday off, so that I could go up and meet him, then come back to Mokpo together. My head teacher, Mr Shin, smiled, blushed and said he would ask the VP (who is a bit of a stickler). Fingers crossed, I went to see them on Monday morning and (yay), they'd granted me the day off. As my VP said (in broken English), "If no admission, you are sad".... loosely translated, I think this means "If we didn't let you have your own way, you would pout and act like a 2-year old, and we'd rather not deal with that, thanks".
I ended up also having to take Thursday afternoon off, so that I could take the KTX up to Seoul. This day and half of vacation meant they had to re-schedule my other two schools, and rearrange my extra classes; I had to promise to teach on a Saturday morning, and teach 5 classes in a row (no breaks) on Thursday morning.
And so...
I ran out of my last class with my already packed bag on my back and headed off to the train station. I usually love taking the KTX - it's a super-fast train that hits 300 km/h at some points, and the trip is only about 3 hours long. This time, however, I was stuck behind an elderly man who shouted into his ever-ringing cell phone, and surrounded by strategically placed squalling children (they had organized themselves to take turns making noise, so that it was a constant barrage). The garlicky businessman next to me snored for most of the trip (then again, once I finally fell asleep, so did I, I am sure).
It was 5:30 by the time I reached the Incheon airport. I ran between the six different arrivals gates, trying to figure out where I needed to be. JOY! The pixel board told me that Ty's plane was ahead of schedule, and would be landing at 6:00. And so, I sat down to wait. At about 6:05, the arrivals board flashed, then changed. Ty's plane was now arriving at 8:30. Faced with more than two hours tacked onto my waiting time, I found myself an internet terminal and killed an hour e-mailing and chatting.
Glancing at the arrivals board, I saw that the time had changed (again), and the plane was now not due until 9:30 (announcements on the PA said it was "for maintenance"). Hmmmm. I found a bookstore, bought a crappy paperback novel and sat down to wait again. Reading did make the time go a bit faster, and soon, it was nearing 9:00.
And then the time changed again - now, his plane was supposedly arriving at 9:50. Exasperated and bored, but fully aware that there was nothing I could really do to make the plane arrive faster, I finished my book, then sat and stared at the arrivals board. The crowd around the arrivals gate thinned out, until there were just a few of us glass-eyed folks who had all been waiting upwards of three hours for this damn plane to arrive.
9:45.... And then, like some sort of sick joke, the time changed again to 9:51, then 9:52, then 9:54, finally deciding that 9:56 was more appropriate. The plane finally landed a few minutes after 10. By this time, I was standing on the inside of the barrier/gate/fence thing, shifting from foot to foot and scanning each (Asian) face that came through the sliding doors for Ty, until he finally came through.
We made our way back to Seoul to find a hotel room, where he gave me tons of happy presents from South Africa (chocolate, coffee, pesto, a stuffed zebra and lion - like, not real ones, but plush toys - a long bright wrap-around skirt, a beaded bracelet, a beaded necklace, shower gel, rocks, a book with excerpts of articles by some of SA's better writers. I'd say he knows me well). We headed back to Mokpo on Friday, and have been talking each other's ears off ever since, filling each other in on the past month.... and making the 5 soul-agonizing hour wait in the airport seem worth it.
