I arrived in South Korea at Incheon international airport, which is near Seoul, on September 12th. After saying goodbye to all of my American greenbacks at the foreign exchange bank (the exchange rate is roughly 1000 Korean Won to 1 USD) I grabbed my luggage and headed for the airport exit. I was greeted by one of my coworkers who kindly made the 3 hour bus trip up that morning to see me safely back to Gunsan. After introducing ourselves, we bought our bus tickets and waited about 40 minutes for the bus to arrive. The scenery was beautiful on the drive down, as we crossed several bridges and drove into some beautiful forested areas. I fought jet lag and just stared out the window in excitement that I had finally made it to Korea. My coworker, Suzanne, informed me that I had arrived on one of the busiest travel days of the year, Korea's version of thanksgiving, Chuseok. She said the bus trip back might take closer to 3 1/2 hours down to Gunsan due to all the holiday traffic. Turns out our bus broke down and we waited on the side of the road for the next bus along the same route. 6 hours later, we were nearing the city I would call home for the next 12 months, wondering if we were almost there. Right around that time I noticed a full moon hiding behind the hills we were driving past. Suzanne told me that it was a tradition to make a wish when you see the full moon rise over the horizon on Chuseok (the holiday coincides with the full moon). I'm not superstitious (just a little stitious), but I've always heard it's bad luck to reveal one's wish. It didn't take long for me to come up with it, but I will let your imagination decide what I was hoping for. I will tell you in a year if it came true.
Ten minutes later we got off the bus and I was in Gunsan, South Korea.
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