ABSTRACT
Elaine and I caught a bus back to Seoul, and found an empty booth in the dining room of International House for supper. She was the luck of the draw for a roommate, and I guess we made an unlikely pair, but we liked each other right away. She’s two decades or so older than I, at least 50 pounds heavier, and my opposite in coloring. I’ve always been quiet and serious - a “good-girl” type, according to my sister. Elaine’s a brash bushy-haired blonde, and she says and does whatever she wants to. I’ve never known anyone as free from conventions. She considers life a high adventure. She dragged me off to the kut when I’d barely put my bags down in the room, telling me I’d adjust to the time change better if I didn’t sleep until bedtime, to get on Korean time right away.
