Korean Seafood Pizza. Pa-jun.

My Friend’s Flesh and Blood | June 17, 2011

He got these after the physical and gave them to me. :)

little to no surfysurf resulting in a day of blatblatting around the eastern beaches of southkorea on a blue bird day…

I thought of many ways I could get to the airport.  Should I take an airplane? That is too expensive.  Should I take a bus?  Then take a taxi or ask a friend to pick me up in the bus station and take me to the airport?  Not so expensive and I was almost ready to do that, but my mother did not agree with that.  She insisted she wanted to take me even if it affected her a little bit more economically, but I didn’t want that to happen.  My sister also had an important presentation in her high school that night since she had just become the next year’s Color Guard captain, not to mention an important exam in school she couldn’t afford to miss.  The problem?  My mom takes her to school and all these activities, and we had no one to be her ride for the day.  

After speaking on the phone with my stepfather, my mother decided to ask him if he could give me the ride to the airport.  But before she could ask him, he knew what was going on and volunteered to take me to the airport that day.  He would arrive Thursday evening, get some rest, and then take me to Houston for my take off.  I lived 6 hours away, and the flight was Friday at 9 am.  

I packed that day, ran some errands, and had a meeting with the past after some convincing over the phone the previous day.  I met my father after almost 6 years of not seeing him.  I was nervous, anxious, and somewhat scared, but gladly, everything went well.  We had coffee, a nice chat, and some McDonalds.  He is a very different man now, no longer the strong angry looking man I remember.  He now seems weak, even more angry with the world, devastated, and after five years, he is still in denial.  He doesn’t want to change.  No longer a job, no new life, nothing.  I feel sorry for him.  We bid farewell, and I promised to keep in touch.  

My stepfather arrived that evening and rested before the long drive.  It was good because I got to spend a little more time with my mother.  We watched our drama, and after it, me and my stepfather took off.  But I had forgotten one thing in the house, so I went back.  I got to the door, and saw through the window in it my mother standing in the dining room, just staring into nothing.  She seemed sad, and I couldn’t help but feel sad as well.  I rang the doorbell, and took my jacket.  We hugged one last time.  No words, just silence.  Enjoying out last hug in 7 months.

The trip was long.  We had a stop at his place, an HEB to buy nutella for my Korean friend and at a few gas stations.  Since he had lived in Korea in the late 80’s he explained some things to me such as the culture, some of the language, and the place itself.  Good information that has somewhat helped me so far.  When we arrived in Houston, we stopped at his brother’s house.  We then went all together for breakfast, my last american breakfast, and headed to the airport.

Right on time and a little lost I was once I passed the security area.  They have this cool tube where they check your whole self!  My stepdad took a picture of that.  I wish I had it with me to share.  After that, I looked for my gate.  I spoke to a lady that was going to Hong Kong.  She was supposed to have left the day before, but since she was a few minutes late, they didn’t let her board.  The plane was still there and connected to the bridge.  Yet, she had to spend the night in Houston.  I told her my story and was impressed with my bravery of venturing into a completely foreign country all by myself, at such a young age, and without much knowledge of the language.  She was so kind,  I wish her and her and her baby happiness.

I slept the whole way in the plane, sitting in the middle seat of the very back row.  I was happy the people next to me were not fat, so my trip was rather comfortable.  When I woke up, we were getting ready to land in San Francisco, where I got so completely lost looking for my gate.  I asked a German worker there who guided me and was going on the same direction as me.  It took me such a long time to find my gate, so when I found it I was right