Well I have had a very busy couple of weeks. My mom arrived here last Wednesday April 1^st. That was a rough morning I had to catch the bus at 9:10am to get to the Incheon Airport a 5 hour trip.

Day 1:

My friend Duk picked me up around 8:30am to get to the bus station. On arrival we were informed by the ticket lady that the bus was actually at 8; 50 looking at the clock that read 8:58 and the proceeding train not leaving until 11:30 I started to panic. Duk ran outside and luckily the bus was still there – already a close call and only 9am. My stomach was in knots about how the rest of my trip was going to be. I waved goodbye to Duk as we said our awkward good bye as I boarded the bus. I wasn't sure if I should hug him or what so I just waved instead. Thanking him for saving my morning.

The bus ride was nice – long but comfortable I arrived at the airport and found my mom's gate with ease. I arrived a little early and noticed that her arrival time was pushed back every 5 mins so I decided to buy our bus tickets to our hotel and get all of our accommodations in order while I waited.

My mom's only request for a hotel was that it had a pool and a hot tub-whirl pool. A reasonable request for any hotel back in the US but in country known for its public bath houses it's not very common to find a public pool or hot tub where the woman aren't bathing themselves in the nude.

I finally resided on the Ritz Carlton a swank deluxe hotel that would surely have a large whirl pool style tub in their luxury bathrooms. The catch was that if you're a foreigner the Ritz takes there already overpriced room and adds about another 100 dollars on to the price, but if you are Korean then you only have to pay the standard high over priced rate. So to beat the system I found my friend Chang who was currently staying in Seoul to check in to the hotel for us.

I must say the Ritz was luxurious. The lobby was beautiful and the staffs were at your beck and call catering to your every need- truly a service that I could get used to. However upon arriving to our room I noticed the bathroom was no so deluxe and the tub was standardL. I was really upset because I wanted to go all out for my mom and really surprise her with an amazing time in Korea. Though at this point she had only been here a few hours my mood was low. And not 5 mins after noticing the bathroom did I pull out the coffee/tea tray and accidently dropped it breaking the ceramic dishes and tea pot. AGH the knot in my stomach was tightening this trip I knew at this point was not going to go smoothly. I just couldn't wait till we got back to my Gyeongju, my area of Korea, my familiarity…. Seoul was unknown territory to me. Well I won't bore you with the unfortunate looking hors d'eurves set out for us at the Ritz or the testimony we put forth at the front counter. But I will say to end my mom's first day in Korea that we did go to a samgupsa restaurant and my mom adored the food and the free service coffee offered at the restaurant was complimented more throughout the evening then our sleeping quarters. Fortunately there was a happy ending to the first day and Chang was a big hit with my mom!

Day 2:

The next day we also woke up super early 6:30-7am we went down to a delicious continental breakfast, already turning into a good day. My mom and I had a really good talk about my future and the career I want, which she believes I will be very good. She also gave me some pointers on how to bullshit with people lol.

Any way today we went on the DMZ tour which was 5 hours long!!! But absolutely amazing, I have to say I really wasn't looking forward to the tour but I knew my mom liked history and this would be enjoyable for her so I sucked it up. And in the end I really had a great time to. I really am not interested in history but I did learn a lot for the tour. We got to see North Koreans with binoculars from an observation room. We also were shown their clothing and goods used in their lifestyle- vey poor. They don't have fertilizer for their crops nor do they have machines so things are done with man power. Millions of people are dying from starvation it's a sad story.

The tour took us to the Panmunjeun which is the area where North and South Korea meet, it's a neutral zone where both countries have military stationed. This is what you see on TV when you watch press conferences and what not. We were able to see North Korean guards but were asked to walk fast to not raise your arms up or make any gestures. It was pretty serious. After all this was at the time when North Korea had the missile (satellite) ready for launch at any day.

Our tour guide was very informative and spoke English very well and for lunch we had the same thing as dinner the night before Samgupsa – still a big hit with my mom and topped off with SERVICE COFFEE lol she did not stop talking about this free coffee offered everywhere here.

After our tour we took a bus back home to good old Gyeongju. Where my mom met her new grandson, Marley, (name pending). We hit the sack at around 1am and prepared ourselves for another busy day.

Day 3 will be continued another time as I am tired talk to you soon here are some pics to enjoy.