A Great Escape

I look forward to leaving Asia and no longer being mocked for my ethnicity. Tonight while I was out running two high-school aged Korean boys jogged behind me for an extended period of time laughing and making comments to each other. This would never happen to a foreign male and would certainly not happen were I Korean. I find it irritating and senseless. I ignored them until they finally broke away. They called "goodbye" and I replied, "I love you too!" as I do whenever I see clear evidence that I am the subject of discussion.

A few weeks ago while I was waiting for the interminably long light to change to cross to work a girl on the opposite side of the street began imitating me while I stretched. After several minutes of this I stopped stretching and began doing the chicken dance. These little moments shouldn't matter but they are tiresome. I don't like being the object of ridicule solely because I am white as it would never occur to me to mock them for being Asian.

I realized the depth of my need to get away from Asia this morning while pondering my late summer trip to Hawaii. I was not dreaming of beautiful flora and fauna. I did not imagine myself on a wonderful sandy beach. I do not long to lose myself in tropical breezes. The solace I found in thinking about Hawaii was this: I might be able to find my preferred brand of feminine hygiene product. I'm goin' to Hawaii and I'm not settling for HomePlus brand tampons!!