#TBT

#ThrowBackThursday to when I almost missed my plane flight.

I had a 2 hour flight from Indianapolis to Atlanta followed by a 14 hour flight to Korea. Knowing I had a very long travel ahead of me, I stayed awake the whole night hoping I would pass out for the duration of the flight. That definitely did not happen. I think I went mentally insane on the plane to Korea. Anyway, I blame the following story on lack of sleep.

My father flew to Atlanta with me to ensure I wouldn't miss my international flight. We weren't at all worried about catching our domestic flight. We should have been. Around 4:30 AM, we left for Indianapolis to catch our 6:30 AM plane. My dad dropped me off and went to park the car. Meanwhile, I checked us in and bought McDonald's breakfast for us. Shortly after finishing our food, we got in line to go through security. This was definitely the longest security line I can recall seeing at the Indianapolis airport. Surely I can place some blame on that as well.

I also think we misunderstood our flight time. Perhaps our flight departed at 6:30 and we were to begin the boarding process at 6:00. As I was taking off my shoes to go through security, a lady on the loudspeaker announced, "Garcia party of 2, please make your way to the gate. The doors are closing in two minutes."

Surely you can imagine our panic. My dad threw his shoes on and told me he was going to run for it. A slightly larger wave of terror came over me as I was putting my Mac into my backpack and I heard, "Ms. Garcia you have 30 seconds before the doors close and you forfeit your ticket."

I sprinted. I don't think I've ever moved so fast in my entire life. Seriously. I was "that crazy person" late for a flight. You know, the one pushing people out of the way with their shoes half on and bag half zipped. Of course, the gate I needed to get to was the furthest one.

As you all probably could have guessed, I made it to the gate just in time. I was the very last person on that plane. I'm also fairly confident I was the only person completely out of breath and sweaty.. What a great way to start a 21 hour journey.

4th of july

People keep asking me how my 4th of July was. Here's your answer -

I asked Jin if he was going to wear red, white and blue on the 4th. He replied, "No... I mean, why would I?"

The 4th of July isn't a holiday here. Americans don't celebrate the independence of other countries, so why would Koreans celebrate ours?

The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays because it's summer and fireworks are cool and it means my birthday is coming up. So, it was unfortunate to miss out on all of the festivities back in the states.

Really, this was the first year that I was the only one who cared about the 4th of July. Whatever, I painted my nails red and wore a blue and white dress. That's as "Murican" as my 4th of July got.

Hopefully all of you back home in the states had a more successful celebration!

acai berries

I was sitting at my desk in the lab. (That's right, I have my own desk!) I had my beats headphones on and couldn't hear the commotion going on behind me. I finally turned around to see a set table. We usually go to the KIST cafeteria for lunch. Not today. Eun Ha told me lunch was here.

I joined my fellow lab members around the table and began picking at my food. We were served meat that actually wasn't meat but artificial meat made of beans. Side dishes included the kimchi and rice staples, tiny crunchy fish, what I think was a quail egg, and some fish cakes.

The lady began presenting her PowerPoint and videos. Of course, the presentation was in Korean and I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. I was clueless. My guess would have been that she was with a food company trying to get us to buy their healthy food

This whole time, I was trying my absolute hardest not to laugh. Like, what was even happening?!

At the end of her presentation, she asked us questions. I tried to make it obvious that I don't know Korean to avoid being called on. The Korean speakers answered and recieved face masks, soap and packets of juice. Eventually, Uncle Brad walked in to see his lab listening to a random woman. We had to try hard not to look at each other because every time we made eye-contact, we couldn't hold in our laughter. I was in tears from laughing so much. I felt bad but I just really couldn't help myself.

Everyone who didn't already have a juice pack received one. We cut them open and drank. The woman eventually packed up and walked out.

Finally, Arong explains to Uncle Brad and I that the presentation was about acai berries and all of their health benefits. The woman was there to sell this juice to us. Uncle Brad commented, "Well, she wasn't very good! I was going to buy some!"

Arong chases the woman down in the hallway and she returns. Arong helps Uncle Brad fill out the order form.

5 boxes of acai berry juice for $400. Wait, what? Oh you know, just your average work day...