in Blaine

I checked out of my hotel this morning and walked to the border, which
must have been about a mile from the hotel. The very nice front desk
clerk assured me that I'd have no trouble simply walking down the
freeway to the border. "I see bikers and backpackers doing it all the
time," she said.

Sure enough, I made it to the US Customs area, got in line, and once
again got a weird look from the passport controller. "Walkin' across
America, huh?"

I wasn't surprised to see the long lines of cars on both sides of the
border, but was taken aback by the number of people in the pedestrian
line. I was the only one with a backpack, which made me wonder about
everyone else. Had all these folks been dropped off by loved ones and
left to walk across the border? If not, why were they in the
pedestrian line?

I'm BlackBerrying this from a bench at Blaine marine park, not far
past the border and just off Routes 5 and 548. I'm heading toward a
Unitarian church about a mile or two from where I'm sitting and
enjoying the wind. I intend to walk down to the marina, touch the
water (this adventure isn't over until I touch the Atlantic somewhere
on the east coast), then move on.

Ah, yes, how could I forget? While I was sitting at the Peace Arch
Provincial Park, I was accosted by a group of Korean ladies, ajummas
all, who wanted to know whether they needed their passports to walk on
the grass where the actual Peace Arch stands. I spoke with them
entirely in Korean; all were shocked except for one lady who made my
day by saying, "Ah, I thought you were Korean!" Most Koreans don't
pick up on my Asian-ness at all; they usually just think I'm white. I
always contrast this with my experience in France, where people picked
up very quickly on the fact that, as I've heard, "Vous avez l'air
asiatique."

My other "language moment" came while I was in line at US Customs. A
middle-aged French speaker muttered a complaint to his companion about
the US staffers at the desk: "One guy's doing all the work while the
other two aren't doing anything!" (In truth, the other two staffers
had been working on complicated paperwork for some Asian visitors.)

OK... More news in a bit.

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