a family reunion! sort of

My parents surprised me by showing up at my office door at Smoo this afternoon around a quarter to four. We hugged, we talked, and then we trundled over to my humble abode. Later on we ate some bul-nak-jeongol (bulgogi plus nakji [dwarf octopus] noodle and vegetable stew), then tried to take the limousine bus over to the airport to meet my brother David.

That's when things started to get interesting. The bus stop at the Lotte Hotel had been moved down a few yards, I discovered. Not only that, but the last limousine bus to depart the hotel left at just before 7PM, and I'd been counting on catching an after-7 bus out to the airport. After some hemming and hawing, Mom, Dad, and I piled into a cab-- the very last option I wanted to try-- but the cabbie got us to the airport for about the same amount it would have cost us to buy limousine bus tickets. Friendly cabbie, but he had a thick accent that screamed bumpkin! My Korean's only about intermediate level, but even Mom had trouble understanding him.

My brother David finally appeared, towing his single carryon, but Mom's and Dad's luggage didn't. They have to wait another half-day, it would appear. We did manage to catch a limousine bus back to Lotte Hotel (does anyone know why the hell they don't run the Lotte-to-Airport route after 7PM?). David, who claimed his intestines were burbling, farted quietly in the back of the bus during the ride. That's when I knew everything was going to be all right.

It was good to see the folks after a two-year separation. I'll be seeing them again tomorrow; they might do some sort of all-day package tour of Seoul while I'm teaching, but Dad doesn't want to do anything until he gets the baggage situation taken care of. Understandable. More on this as it unfolds.


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