As Rafiki says about the circle of life...it starts!

Like all Disney adventures mine started with eleven hours wedged between a window and a middle aged snoring korean woman. hmmm

After my years of watching border security i was very disappointed with the lax level of suspicion amongst customs workers both at home and at seoul airport. i was expecting total bag diasassembly, a frisk and maybe some sweaty asian man being spoken to overly loudly by an officer for trying to take more than 100ml of liquid in as hand luggage. i got none of this. i stood waiting nervously in the maze of seatbelt, fearing the more i stessed the more i would sweat and the more sweat means the more condoms of cocaine must be shoved in your a höle. no. not even a second glance. scan the passport. doesnt seem fake. yeh...she´ll b right mate! hmph
and seoul was not much better although it was slightly more intimidating as upon exit of the aircraft we were confronted by a wall of masked korean customs officers armed with thermometers and weird neck scanning beeping things to test for swine flu. to top off my angst, they would not let me pass through as i had left the space on my entrance card which required a korean address blank. not smart. i tried to explain that the airline was taking me to a hotel the location of which had not been disclosed yet. but after what seemed like a millenium he must have decided that my complexion was not one which would endanger his country and stamped my passport with brutal force.

Once arriving at a hotel far beyond any of my expectations, my new australian teacher friend and i exchanged opinions on the philosophical nature of science before sitting down to dinner. i had high hopes for the food in the place. after being laughed at on the plane for chosing korean rice over ´western beef´i wanted to prove my openness to other cultures by embracing their food in front of them. fail. i had cordon blergh ordered only for the promise of accompanying steamed vegetables....a bean, a slice of cooked capsicum and a handful of crinkle cut oven fries does not meet the description. Setting aside our disappointment we decided to try and see what we could of our nuuuu surroundings!! we hopped into a taxi map in hand and requested to be taken to downtown seoul, maybe 10 min away by car. NO! i do NOT go there!!!! oooohh kay. hop out try again. repeat. hmmmm. so we decide to hoof it and just see what is around our hotel. GOLD!!!!!! thats what!!!! tiny alleyways lined with guys trying to flog off faux ed hardy jumpers, women trying to charge $3 a nectarine, seedy sex bars and neon lights!!!!! so many neon lights!!! i didnt know where to look!!!! one sign would command my attention by promising cans of budweiser and fake palm trees while another would direct me down stairs steeper than Henry st´s into a lair of sticks and jazz!!! loved every second of it. everyone is so genuinely polite. so so good!

On departure from seoul i managed to catch another episode of an amazing korean tv drama which was more addictive than even amazing seizure robots could even dare!! the flight was not too bad. once again boxed in between a window and a middle aged korean couple; the one filter coffee i downed at breakfast keeping me wide awake enough to watch 5 movies back to back. 49 hrs after leaving the comfort of my own doona and moncchichi doll i arrived with my turlte squid bag in Bochum in Germany´s north west. It is at this point that i leave you for if you have read this far then doom on you....you could have been doing something productive!!!

photos will komm!!!!