Pororo, the Korean Penguin

First off, I want to give a shout-out to Korean Air.  In spite of the panic inducing idiocy of the ticket, Korean Air managed to pull off fantastic customer service, starting with the check in process at Dulles.  We got there really early because I was freaking out about the tickets for the second leg of our flight, but they had already seated us all together.  We had a little snafu with the bags, because Korean Air allows two bags per person, but Delta only allows one, and since our tickets were through Delta, and we had six suitcases, we had to pay for the two extra.  Yet another reason that this whole co-chair thing is ridiculous.  The Korean Air staff were extremely apologetic and very helpful in getting us through the process.

We got lucky and there wasn't a line for the passport and security check, so we got through it as quickly as a group of four people with a baby in a stroller can.  That baby came in handy at boarding time though.  We were some of the first people on the plane after checking the stroller at the gate, so we had plenty of time to sort out our carry on items.  We put Elena in her car seat, facing forward, and the regular seat belt fit over her.  She seemed very happy with the arrangement.  The Korean Air flight attendants came to check about Vivi's child meal and to see if we needed anything for the baby.  There were several other babies and small children on the flight, and the flight attendants were great with them.

The girls both did really well.  We didn't have any serious meltdowns on either leg of the flight, and they both managed to sleep quite a bit.  The food was about as good as economy class airplane food can be, and the in flight entertainment had lots of choices.  When Elena got fussy, we put on the Korean cartoon Pororo.  She didn't even need the sound; she was mesmerized.  Pororo was also all over the kid meals Vivi got and the little kid gifts both girls got on the flights.  Apparently he is the Korean equivalent of Mickey Mouse or Hello Kitty.  Not really sure how they ended up with a penguin though . . .

Jeff's work sponsor met us in the Bangkok airport as soon as we got off the plane.  He had an embassy driver with him, and the two of them helped us through security, baggage claim and customs.  All of our stuff showed up, which was a huge relief.  It took us about thirty minutes to drive to our new house.  It was a strange sensation to be driving "home" to a place we'd never seen.

Once we got there, Vivi ran around checking everything out.  We got her and Elena to bed pretty quickly, but Jeff and I stayed up talking and planning.  Our new house is lovely in many ways and incredibly strange in others.  Some of the design choices defy logic.  The Thai think of "farang" (westerners) as tall, but parts of this house were designed for giants.  The tubs are so huge that Vivi can't climb into them without a step stool, and half of the cupboard storage is so high that even the step stool falls short.  One of our neighbors told us that the woman who works for her climbs up on the counter to get to the top storage.  We'll figure out how to make it work for us eventually.  For now we're just so happy we made it.