西洋오랑캐

Yesterday was my sister’s final day on Korean soil, so to comemorate the event, we went to a birthday celebration being held in honor of 진희’s grandfather’s 90th birthday, which is just about the least touristy thing one can do in a foreign country, but at the same time actually gives one a look at the real lives of people living in another country (something one can’t really gain by taking pictures in front of monuments or going to tourist traps).

The party was fairly excellent, and none of the relatives I met seemed particularly preturbed by the whiteness of my skin (nor the whiteness of my sister’s skin for that matter). They were all friendly and extremely pleasant: from the lady (an aunt I believe) who spoke slowly and clearly to me in Korean, as opposed to the rapid fire machine gun like delivery some middle aged Korean ladies rock, to the guy (a cousin’s husband I think) that spoke pretty fluent English and was all about explaining the nuances of rural Korean birthday parties to my sister and I, they were all outstanding.

Following the birthday party luncheon we bid adieu to her family and headed back to my homestead so my sister could finish packing up her suitcases full of gifts and Korean trinkets. 진희’s father offered to drive her to the airport, so we didn’t have to worry about catching an airport limo, which is just about the most awesome thing ever. After packing up her loot, we met up at the pre-arranged meeting place to discover 진희’s father had contacted the character known as “Navigation,” to accompany us on this trip to the airport, which delighted my sister.

A short time later we were at the airport. There was no traffic to speak of from my house to the airport, so we arrived in record time. My sister picked up her boarding pass, purchased some cans of the can coffee she had become addicted to over the course of her stay in Korea, took some final pictures and then proclaimed that we didn’t need to wait around, and that she would just head over to her gate and await the boarding call.

Some lame hugs, cool guy handshakes, “만나서 반갑습니다,” and “Come and visit us anytime,” later she was going through the gates off to her plane. As 진희, her father, “Navigation,” and I headed away from the airport, a gentle snow began to fall. It was a fitting end to my sister’s stay in Korea.

end.

Notes from the desk of Wyatt:

Dear Reader,

I’m sure that the past week’s load of entries have made little to no sense, and I would like to take this moment to explain myself. With my sister staying with me, I had little time to write anything substantial here, so I would on occassion write little notes to myself as to what happened over the course of the day. These took less than five minutes to write, and containing little more than a couple catch phrases and poor spelling. I thought that they were funny at the time and decided to publish them. I may very well go back and write up some versions of the past week’s entries with proper spelling, and things like content, or a may just leave them as is…filled with references to “a dracula,” and random quotes from Degrassi Junior High. Thank you for your patience. Things should return to normal shortly…or as normal as things were around these parts.

Wyatt