My dad has lived in Korea since I was two and we would visit him every summer when I was younger but as we got older with school and summer programs we stopped.
The last time I saw my dad was when I was 18, I came to visit Korea when my sister was staying with him. I stayed in Korea for about a week at that time. We keep in touch via email but I haven’t seen him in awhile.
I felt really awkward since we communicated via email and even then they were short and not often. Just the usual check-in or quick update one what was going on at the time. Even with my mom, I always felt better when my sister was around the soften my tense awkwardness. It isn’t the language barrier, just me… being awkward. 2 years ago I had made plans to go to Korea and visit my dad. We were beginning to plan things and then I felt called to go to Thailand and volunteer. My dad was really understanding and so this trip to Thailand (2nd trip), I planned a layover in Korea to have the opportunity (even though it’s short) to see my dad. On my way to Bangkok, my layover is 12 hours in Korea. My dad came to hang out with me during my layover, later I would learn that he drove 3 hours to do this… I also learned there are sleeping areas and showers at the airport. Pretty cool.
So I got in around 6:30am, everything was pretty fast and easy. I felt very nervous about seeing my dad. The way the airport is setup doesn’t help. After customs and immigration and all that you walk out to an open area where a bunch of people are standing waiting for their loved ones. What if I don’t recognize my dad? I thought. As I walked out, I quickly glanced through the crowd, eyes moving left to right and didn’t see anyone I recognized so I quickly walked with luggage in tow past the crowd and paused for a moment. A little bit relaxed without the staring crowd, I looked left to see if anyone was walking towards me. Nobody. Oh no,what if he forgot or got the days mixed up? As soon as my monkey brain started to ramble, I see a man walking towards me with squinting eyes. Dad!
I had given myself a lot of prep talk, like it’s ok if you cry when you see your dad just don’t go crazy, but when I saw him… I just smiled and hugged him and it was pretty casual. Nothing emotional. I kept wondering… should I speak to him in Korean or English? He speaks both very well. In fact, later I would learm that he is still a U.S. citizen and pays taxes.
Plane food was disgusting and it was really early so nothing is open yet.
we went to a hotel and had coffee and breakfast. I loved the korean/american combo breakfast buffet. I could skip the pastries and have egg with my rice porridge. Yumm…. korean food.
Then because there was a ton of time, he took me to 경복궁 GyeongBokBung palace. I had told him I wanted to go when we were emailing eachother back and forth. I was glad that we were doing stuff because I felt uncomfortable just sitting and talking because I had already talked about everything I could think of. It’s difficult for me to sit through awkward silence.
While driving though, I had so many questions… about what some street signs meant, what city/town are we in etc…
Finally at the palace, I got out my camera, changed my shoes and om we were this windy day. It wasn’t as cold as I imagined but windy. I think it was like 45 degrees. Reminded me of Oregon weather.
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