After three baseball games in three days, we're on hiatus in New York.  (More about my new appreciation for baseball in a future post.)  The heat wave is over and the weather has been deliciously balmy, with only brief periods of mugginess and a few scattered thunderstorms (one of which positioned itself directly above Yankee Stadium during our game, causing a ninety-minute rain delay). 

Ah, June in New York – alfresco dining, long walks downtown, performances in the park.  We considered all the possibilities, then planned the ideal activity for our first baseball-free vacation day: An excursion to Philadelphia.

We had already toured the New York schools, and a visit to the east coast would be incomplete without yet another college tour.  So we cheerfully awoke at 6:30 AM (3:30 PDT), caught the 8:10 AM train and set off to check out Penn.

Our rail journey was relatively relaxing until our engine died somewhere near Trenton. We ended up arriving at the information session with just moments to spare. 

The room was packed and we had to split up.  I grabbed the last remaining seat – in the front row.  It took a few moments before I realized I was sitting in the middle of a group of 44 students from….drum roll: the Minjok Leadership Academy in Korea.

TO BE CONTINUED

(To fully appreciate this bizarre coincidence, please take a look at my 4/28 post before reading Part II.)