Busan Journal, Day 9

Welcome to Houghton, Brandi!

Sorry that we are not in Houghton right now to welcome you to western New York. It may well be as eye-opening an experience for you as your trip to London last September.

A different experience, of course, as you will know as soon as you step out onto soggy ground and sniff the farm-fresh air.

Ask one of your Houghton-in-London buddies to give the Houghton equivalent of the central London tour. It will be a walking tour, by the way, since we have no tube service in town. No bus service either. Not yet, at least.

In our absence, I must invite you to see where our lives take place rather than to extend the kind of hospitality we would usually offer. No hot meals from Donna's Kitchen. No crackling fire on the hearth. No evening of Dutch Blitz.

Someone can walk you by the big red house on Seymour Street, however. If Katie or Megan want to impose upon Tra, you might even be invited to see the inside. You are welcome inside, of course, just don't take any mementos.

Stop by my office, too, and look in the little window to see where I spend many of my waking hours. You may need to push aside the large Korean flag that I have hung across the door to remind folks where I have gone. I wanted to avoid the kind of benign misinformation that accompanied my semester in London. When I returned from London, I was asked several tims, "So, how was Korea?"

And you do know, Brandi, that you will be a bit of a curiosity to Houghton folks. In our part of the world people think it abnormal to go from Santa Barbara to western New York for a week's vacation in March. Have an explanation ready. Your behavior is a bit, well, unusual.

That's all I can do for you now, Brandi. We are sorry to have missed your week in Santa Barbara-East.

You are welcome to visit us in Busan any time.