I’m writing this at 10:30 PM at the Singapore airport’s outdoor “Entertainment Deck”. I was reminded of how much I really love hot weather. 80 degrees feels great. I don’t miss the snow and wind and cold at all but I will miss Korea.

Outdoor “entertainment deck” at the Singapore airport (basically a place for people to smoke), 80 degrees feels great

I suppose it’s 10:30 PM although it’s 11:30 PM in Korea where I’ve been for the last 10 days, it’s 10:30 AM back home, and it’s 8:00 PM in Delhi, where I’m going in a few hours. The fact that I’m thinking about this makes me realize how fascinated (hung up) with time I am. I shouldn’t really care what time it is except for making sure I get on the flight to Delhi that leaves at 2:30 AM Singapore time.

Map on my airplane screen.  I was surprised at how close Singapore is to the equator. It’s much further south than Delhi, India. I think this is the closest I’ve ever been to the Southern Hemisphere. This was the only connection I could get from Korea to India.

My hope was to be able to go into Singapore itself in the 5 hours I have here but the plane got in 40 minutes late and I don’t want to get stuck in a traffic jam and miss the flight. So sitting outside is my consolation prize. On the plane they mentioned that anyone with certain items would need to fill out a special declaration and they included chewing gum as an item that would need to be checked. I had heard that chewing gum is banned in Singapore but it still amazed me to hear it. Singapore is known for being squeaky clean and also one of the most ethnically diverse places in the world.

 It’s really true that they ban chewing gum in Singapore. Hopefully, they don’t have the death penalty for gum chewers though.

Earlier today, I packed up at 10:30 AM to go to the post office to mail back the children’s work from the school and other stuff I don’t need during the trip. I sure hope it gets there otherwise I’m in bad shape for my study (it got to the US before I returned). We then drove the 90 minutes or so to Incheon Airport where Woo and I had a last meal together.

Woo asked me how I would briefly summarize Korea. I told him that I sensed very strongly the clash of cultures. Korea is between China and Japan and has been conquered by one or the other multiple times. It is also maybe the last vestige of the cold war. I’ll never forget the tension and heartbreak I felt at the DMZ. One the other hand, South Korea has managed to remain very solid, both in its unity and in its economy. From the little I saw, the people are remarkably hard working, intelligent, and polite. They don’t seem bitter. Rather than wallow in their problems, they’ve gone out and created an economic miracle and have a society that works. With people like Woo around, their future is bright.

There is some chance I could work with Woo or others in Korea on research. The biggest conference in math education occurs every 4 years (ICME) and will be in Seoul in 2012. I might try to make it.

Last view of Korea from the plane