The Start of Summer Vacation

Those of you who know me have heard me say before, possibly on numerous occasions and especially those I have lived with, that I love my bed, that I love to sleep, and that I am soooo not a morning person.  Keeping those three facts in mind, contemplate what might be the best part of summer vacation for me... Yep, the lack of an alarm clock!  For the next two weeks (excluding Sundays), I can choose to sleep in! 

So, what exactly did I do on my first day off?  I set an alarm for 5:15 am and helped a friend get to the airport so she can go home and visit her family in the States for summer vacation.  Now that's a good friend!

Oh, P.S. - Random Cultural Thing...

On our way to into the train station, my friend and I walked through the big entry plaza and sitting far on one side were two foreigners (easily identified by their white skin, blonde hair, and utter lack of Korean features).  Our eyes met briefly for a second and then they waved!  I have no idea who these people are, but they waved to my friend and me like we knew them... because we are foreigners too!  Isn't that strange? This is the first time that this "hey, I'm obviously a foreigner and you obviously are a foreigner, therefore we have this foreign thing in common and I feel like I should acknowledge your presence" thing has happened in such an overt fashion.  Normally it is just a little head nod - if that!  I live in Seoul and quite frankly there are sometimes too many foreigners (all strangers) and so it gets too weird.  And I don't know if I see the whole point in it because I don't like being identified and treated differently because of my race (albeit, this is a positive social acknowledgement).  I understand the desire to be friendly and kind, especially if we all lived in a significantly smaller city with a smaller expat community and could therefore potentially meet someday.  In that case, you wouldn't want to be the snob who can't even say hi to someone who is obviously a stranger here too.  But, Seoul is a BIG city and there are lots of people and this isn't something I would do at home and quite frankly, I don't like being treated differently than those around me.  It is a very strange characteristic of the expat community here in South Korea...