“Get the vision, get the vision, get the vision, come -,” I executed the last of The Kills’ new album with a tug of my earphones when we touched down on the tarmac, breathing a small, happy sigh of relief. We had finally made it to South Korea. Or had we? The 55 minute flight from Fukuoka to Busan is something of a mind fuck; it takes that long to fly to Osaka and then you’re still in Japan. I blushed at the hangul winking at us through the window as we skated towards the gangway. We were definitely not in Kansas anymore.
This only became more apparent as we made our way though immigration, and then customs. “Everyone’s so tall!” I observed out loud to Madelyn. She nodded, smiling. It was my first trip to an Asian country that’s not Japan, and I couldn’t help but compare. “Wait till you see the trash!” Sure enough, empty coffee cups and soda cans were spilling out of the tops of every rubbish bin in the arrivals hall.
It was surprisingly refreshing to be somewhere where there was a bit of disorder. It reminded me of home.