The Postponed Return
Like I said before, I was scheduled to fly back to the States on March 3, but sadly had to cancel my flight since I tested positive for Covid. Since we rescheduled our flights for the following week, exactly one week later, we booked an Airbnb in the Hongdae area.
Our new place was very spacious with two bathrooms, a kitchen, and we each got a bed. An upgrade from our tiny hotel room.
Since I was a confirmed patient, the gu office (each district has one) called to ask some questions and confirm that I was doing okay. When I told the man my height he asked me if that was it and I said that it was. He said that that was surprising because he always thought Americans would be tall. He was super friendly and said he’d learned something new.
The week was filled with ordering food, taking home tests, and trying to entertain ourselves. Our Airbnb host was amazing and dropped off homemade scones and even printed out some papers that we needed for our flight. The last day she even invited us to eat at her restaurant for free.
Leo came over on the last day and we played cards and ordered dakkalbi. Leo kept winning when we played BS.
Sadly, that night Lily took several home tests and they kept saying that she was positive, and I took several and one of those was positive. We decided that she should go to the clinic the next day to get a PCR done.
The next day, it came back positive so we moved our flights back a week…. again. It was unlucky that Lily suddenly started testing positive even though she’d been in quarantine for over a week with us. Back when I first tested positive I had taken the antigen test and when the results had been iffy, they had made me get the PCR. Lily had tested negative on the test so they wouldn’t let her get the PCR, even though she wanted to.
Nazeerah had already changed her flight to the weekend because she wanted to make sure that her PCR would be negative. So, when we moved to another Airbnb, Nazeerah wasn’t rooming with Lily and I when we moved to our next accommodations.
Our new Airbnb was located right in the alleys of cafes and restaurants. Korea has stopped the QR check-ins at every restaurant, cafe, and shopping mall; and spring seems to finally be here. I was done with quarantine! That afternoon we walked around for hours just looking at all the restaurants and cafes. We also walked around the park and went to Cha Cha Tea Cafe. We tried an Oolong tea and a white tea. Then, the host taught us how to prepare the tea. Our Airbnb had a rooftop lounge area, so we went up there at night and chilled for a while.
I believe it was the second day we were there, Lily and I spent hours calling all the hospitals, CDC, local health centers, etc. To no avail, we searched for a place where we could get a letter of recovery. Nowhere offered to do it and nobody knew where we could get it. Finally, I discovered a post on a group and one guy had gotten it at a small clinic in Itaewon. Lily contacted them but they told us that we could only get the letter of recovery if we took an antigen test that day and it came out negative; which totally defeats the purpose of even needing it. We decided to make an appointment anyway and hoped we would be lucky to just test negative.
On Saturday, it was Nazeerah’s last day so we went to a cafe. The owner was very friendly and made sure we all liked our drinks. When we left, he hurried over and gave us little candies and crackers. We went to a photobooth to take photos together. Later that evening, she took a taxi and departed.
Later in the week, we walked around and found a cafe called Orangette 22. Everything was so bright and the drinks were good, but we froze outside with the breeze. Since it was almost our last day in Korea we decided to go to a famous cafe called 벚꽃집. It is famous during springtime for the cherry blossom trees that flower.
Wednesday, was our last full day in Korea. We went early to Brady’s Coffeebar, because we went yesterday but it was packed.
We went to the clinic in Itaewon. The lady gave us a fright when she was questioning Lily why she got the PCR instead of just an antigen and why she was out of quarantine (at this point she’d been in quarantine for over two weeks). The doctor was super nice and wrote us the letter and we were elated to know that we could finally fly home the next day.
For my last meal, I just ordered some malatang and then zoomed with my friends. They told me that I shouldn’t leave but that we can continue our Zoom tradition when I return home. My one friend ordered that everyone should do a speech after his own long monologue.
The next day, we called for a taxi since we had so many bags. The taxi driver was super friendly and kept exclaiming that we had a lot of luggage. He was very interested in what we had been doing in Korea, where we were going, and our ethnic background.
We arrived at Incheon Airport Terminal 2 and were checking our bags in when the lady turned to Lily and asked if she knew that she had overstayed her visa. Lily and I were both so shocked; apparently it had expired on March 4. The lady told us that it would be unlikely that she would be able to fly that day. She asked me if I wanted to continue checking my luggage in; I was too stunned to know what to do. Lily rushed off to the immigration office, while I talked to the lady and she said we had forty minutes before they closed the check-in counter. Thankfully, the immigration office let Lily explain her circumstances and we were free to go.
We boarded our flight finally and took off at 2 PM. It honestly felt surreal that I was finally leaving because I had kept postponing my departure date. Everything had been so vague and complicated.
Our flight to Seattle was 9 1/2 hours. The first six hours were fine but the last part was torture since I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t watch anything (my eyes are still recovering), was hungry, and my butt was killing me. The ahjussi across from us kept taking his mask off and the flight attendants had to keep telling him to put it on. We landed safely and had to pick up our bags and go out and then check back in.
While we were waiting for our next flight, we ate some fish and chips. Lily and I were beyond exhausted but we couldn’t fall asleep. Our final flight was only about an hour which was short and sweet. There was a high school (?) guy sitting across from us looking pale and leaning with his head between his legs the whole flight. A bad case of flight fright. At one point he was dry heaving and took out the paper bag from the seat. I felt so bad since I know how it feels to not like flying. We arrived at our destination and were reunited with family!!!
An end to another era. It felt like a blink of an eye; those three years. I am nervous yet excited to see what happens in this next chapter of life; hopefully a lot of traveling!!