seattle, part I

i spent a wonderful 2.5 days in seattle. the spring air was clean, crisp and had a faint scent of coffee beans (honestly!). i stepped off the plane, took a deep breath of the airport's espresso flavored air and felt a sense of relief my long flight was over. i just needed to grab my luggage and go through customs. i didn't have anything in my suitcase that would warrant any alarm from customs, but i wasn't sure how the whole "check" would go through. according to their website it seems they are quite rigid and harsh. i had no live plants or animals in my bag, which is the biggest no-no when coming from a foreign country, but the rigidity of the customs regulations had me thinking i'd be thrown in jail and slapped with a $1000 fine if they found a leaf stuck on the bottom of my shoe. fortunately, no such thing happened. in fact, i breezed through customs with no problems.

susan arrived the minute after i stepped foot in the "arrivals" area of the airport and we hugged and quickly hurried off to get home. i was anxious to smell that beautiful seattle air, but also hoped to say goodbye to my new friend, but couldn't seem to find him.

the next few days were filled with leisurely walks, food, and fun shopping: we went to several different places downtown, including anthropologie, a favorite shop of mine, and i bought some clothes. some of you may be wondering why i don't just buy clothes in korea. my main reason is that i have yet to learn the art of shopping in korea. i'm still learning what shops are best and also how to get used to the lack of "trying on/fitting rooms" in stores. sometimes a fitting room in korea is make-shift towel thrown over a bar the length of my arm. i'm somewhat modest, or shall i say, 'don't want strangers to see me undressing in public', so i usually just "eye shop". needless to say, my 6 months of no shopping has made these past couple days quite enjoyable. i don't always like to shop, but i had a lot of fun shopping with susan.
aside from shopping, we did a lot of good eating, including some of susan's yummy homemade lasagna, some vietnamese pho, korean bbq chicken, and visits to a lovely bakery where i had a tasty chocolate croissant. mmm. getting hungry just thinking about all that good food.

susan and i also had time to catch up with each other. we always enjoy telling stories about funny things that happen to us or just sharing what's on our minds with one another. it's nice to have a sister to share the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful with one another. i'm really fortunate to have her as a sister. she's really great. really.

my time in seattle whizzed by and i went to the airport to head toward st. louis. susan was working, so ed her pastor, drove me to the airport. ed is also a counselor so it's always interesting talking to him cause he seems to ask good questions that encourage me to reflect on my life. my flight from seattle to st. louis was super fast. i saw some stunning landscapes from the plane of washington and utah. the clouds were so plump and fluffy i wanted to just dive unto them (minus gravity of course).