Fun in the Sun

Lots of you have heard me going on and on about the sunshine we are having right now. I probably risk jinxing my luck. Spring has definitely arrived in SoKo and with it, a whole slew of interesting new experiences.

First came the cherry blossoms. It was fascinating to watch the way people on the street stop everything to smell, stare at, and take a picture with these pale pink beauties. Whole parks around the city are dedicated to their viewing during this time of year, and several festivals are held in their honour. They are startlingly pretty against the many gray buildings, and provide a brief but profound opportunity for this bustling, practical city to appreciate nature. (A probably unfair but rather cute story on that account: I went for a walk the other day on the mountain behind my house, and one of my students stopped at a tiny patch of grass. Teacher, what is the name for this? It's 'grass', I say. Wow, says he. Wow? To the little green blades that grow abundant in my front and back yards? Oh yes, that's right, you don't know backyard either. Subdivisions without houses or lawns, and now spring without grass; as we love to say, it's all same same but different out here.) And so you see, thank goodness for the cherry blossoms. I am intrigued by their very presence really - a tree that flowers for 2 weeks of the year, and otherwise remains green and unremarkable, or bare and witherered? Is that vanity, or sacrifice? The flower is richly symbolic, and for it's short lifespan has come to signify mortality, and the transient nature of life. Quite fitting a symbol for the life of a traveling teacher.

Spring around here also means Buddha's birthday. May 12th we celebrate with another glorious day off work (I will be in Hong Kong with my Pa) but the lanterns are already decorating the mountain temples and even the main drag of my very own neighbourhood. It's nice to see Seoul being colourful night AND day. I have also managed to score myself a bike. And it was free. And the tune up cost me $5. I can definitely add that to my 'I love Seoul' list. Bike riding, I have discovered, is an adventure all on it's own around here, requiring a level of balance, foresight and hand-eye coordination unprecidented in my life to date. It's quite liberating to feel the wind in your hair (which I have a feeling I will appreciate even more once the humidity that I have been hearing so much about really hits) however i could do without the kamikazee human-evasion stunt riding. But that would be boring, no?

My taste buds have been expanded thanks to the sunshine as well. Ice cream and popsicles come in amazing varieties here - corn with wafered kernels, watermelon with chocolate sunflower seed seeds, sweet potato in its own shape; perhaps Bertie Botts has visited? I also tried a jindalay, very pretty purple blossoms that grow in scores on my mountain and taste a little like perfume. My friend Su from Ewha University also introduced me to an ice-milk-strawberry delight that can be enjoyed with a nice view of her gorgeous campus.

Best of all, though, the Starvill girls and I have discovered that the security guards will gladly let us up on the roof of our building to tan. Lawn furniture has been discussed. Fruit baskets are being prepared as we speak. In my world sunshine truly does make everything better, and now I really wouldn't trade my late working hours for anything.