Seoul

I am in Seoul for a week.  People in Korea always tell me that Tokyo is not interesting for them, because Seoul and Tokyo are a lot alike, but for me, somehow Seoul is interesting and fun.  But perhaps that's because I am a city planner at heart, I am always interested in cities, communities and how the cities are structured.

On my way from the airport, a limo driver kept talking to me for an hour, even though he cannot speak any English nor Japanese.  But somehow he managed to tell me about his favorite baseball team, about his friend in Sendai who got married last year, and his recommendation on sightseeing place in town.  He was friendly and made me happy.  (Korean people are always very nice to me, but maybe because to them, I look like one of them.)

On the other hand, I used to love to visit our office in Seoul, but somehow not any more.  I used to love the company culture here, so open, energetic and everybody young.  It's a good thing to be more structured, better managed, but I keep noticing people pulling legs of each other and that gives me pain.  I mean, it's impractical to be like that, I feel my time wasted. (I guess I care a lot about not wasting my time.  I am also not so interested in speaking about people who are not there)
Also, there aren't many new things for me to learn anymore, so I don't feel as excited as before.

Nevertheless, because it's so cold, Seoul is more Christmassy than Tokyo.  I can't wait for the week to end, then I can meet my best friend.  3 days to go.