april 14-19, 2009
although it was a very busy week at work due to tax deadlines, my awesome partners gave me the green light to take the week off and spend some time with my ailing grandmother (mom’s side). thankfully, singapore air had (and still has) ridiculously cheap airfare and i was able to snag a great deal despite purchasing the ticket a day before.
the plane ride to korea was the most comfortable trip i have taken to korea. my sister (who flew in from austin the night before) and i had the entire middle row to ourselves providing for some much needed additional leg and arm space during the 13 hour flight. singapore also has an amazing entertainment system with recent american and korean movies. the meals were also fairly decent, and the king sized ice cream bars and chocolate bars were definitely a plus. the flight was also more enjoyable because i had the company of my sister… even though we were watching our separate screens and sleeping most of the time, it made a big difference knowing that if i wanted, i could poke and bother her when bored.
these screens were the biggest i’ve seen on planes… can’t go wrong when there are mor recent american and korean movies than you can possibly watch.
i was afraid my grandmother wouldn’t recognize me because of her health, and because i had not seen her in some time (maybe 5 or 6 years). however, she had stabilized by the time i arrived and to my relief, instantly recognized me. when my mom told her that her grandson from america had come to visit her, she looked up and said that i was always a very good kid… and then asked my mom when i was going to get married. it was such an unexpected question that it made everybody in the room laugh. it actually reminded me of the time i told her i had a meeting to attend and she responded with, “oh you’re going to meet girls!” thinking i meant the korean meaning of “meeting” which means blind date.
i also got to spend some time with my other family members and like the first quarter of this year, it seems like a big blur. i basically had 4 days in korea making this a very short trip- probably my shortest trip to korea. the jet lag was also terrible… but obviously it was still an awesome time and am very thankful for such understanding bosses.
if i could only eat like this everyday…
me, halmuni (my dad’s side), my sister, my mom
my paparazzi shot
this is exactly what i do at home too
jung-min find a bug… dong-gun squashes it… hides behind my sister… what a jerk, hahaha
