"Passengers, please fasten your seatbelts. We are ready for landing."

I felt exhausted as I got out of the plane. I barely got any sleep during the 12-hour flight. So many people put into a small space for such a long time was never a tempting idea to me. But I had survived. I had arrived to Seoul. The first thing I did was check the time. It was 4:41PM, which meant that it was only after midnight in LA. I sighed trying to keep myself awake as I got through the security checks and waited for my luggage.

It ended up taking me over half an hour to get out of the terminal. The whole time I was wondering what would happen next. Where was I supposed to go?

Someone should be waiting for me… What was his name again?

I took a small piece of paper out of my pocket. ‘Kim Junghoon’ was written in small letters. That was the name of the family friend, who I was set to meet. I dragged my suitcase through automatic doors, I was following everyone else. As soon as I saw more people coming and going, as well as some waiting for arriving passengers, I started to look for a sign with my name. There were tens and tens of people holding up cardboards wishing welcome, or just simply stating a persons name. While reading them, I realized how long it had been since I had read anything in hangul. Was I getting rusty?

I passed most of the people when I saw a poster with big ‘김하나’, Kim Hana, written on it. I stopped to look at the person holding it; a tall man with brown hair. He was looking around, not noticing me first.

This is it, I thought. I took a breath before I approached him.

“Kim Junghoon?” I asked, taking a few steps closer.

“You must be Kim Hana!” He had a friendly smile.

“Yes,” I said, and remembered to bow slightly. “Nice to meet you, sir.”

I wasn’t exactly used to the politeness and manners that were really important in Korea, but I tried to keep in mind what halmoni had taught me when I was young. She always made me speak Korean in the house.

“Don’t bother being so formal,” he laughed. “Please, let me take your luggage!”

I didn't hesitate to agree. I wondered if it would have been rude to say no. Or if I had just been rude, immediately agreeing.

“Thank you. I-I’ve ever only spoken Korean to my halmoni before she passed… Please treat me well, and excuse my mistakes,” I said carefully, still using formal language.

“Oh, of course. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll catch up with it soon!” Junghoon assured me. “It is great to finally meet you, though I am sorry to hear about your grandmother. I only ever spoke to your halmoni on the phone, but I always heard about her from my own grandmother. I’ve heard that they used to be insepara