Excess baggage

I’m going to be honest with you right from the start. I’m not a thrill seeker. But my life has been a series of plot twists every 5-10yrs. Relocating to Korea is my 7th cross country move and at this rate, playing tetris at a young age has shaped me into being the fine packer that I am today.

In short, I was born in Korea and grew up in Argentina and California. I met my Belgian partner and we’ve lived in Belgium, Japan, UK and moved back and forth to the US. Although it may seem exciting at first, immigrating comes with a lot of challenges – different types of expectations, baggage, visa barriers and preparing for the unplanned; traveling during a pandemic and coming to terms with a 12 day quarantine in a work arranged apartment.

Before coming to Korea, we prepared for the PCR tests, vaccination passes and visa papers. But in quarantine, we were left to fend for ourselves without a single sheet of toilet paper for 12 days… then I started looking for plants, no plants, okay paper… no food, still no plants… to eat? I’m pretty desperate… how do we get food delivered… (applying online) we don’t have a phone or an Alien registration number to get food delivered! Last resort, ask for favors and thankfully someone special came through. We ate everything out of our luggages on our first few days; dried packed “snacks” became a main course, we cooked in camping gear and brought enough clothes to sustain us until our things arrived, 6 months later.

So our life in Korea begins. After some trial and errors we’ve managed to get a phone, we can order food online now and any future quarantine time will be days where we’ll be pacing around the apartment, snacking on actual food and surrounded by edible plants just in case.