Cherry Blossoms!

Two weeks ago, you had only to wander down certain lanes or into certain gardens to find yourself standing under a canopy of white. All around the city, pretty little trees found their branches suddenly covered with clusters and clusters of delicate, white flowers. Of course, these are cherry blossoms, immensely popular in Japan and Korea, such that some cities have taken it upon themselves to plant these trees along every major thoroughfare and scenic spot around. In fact, when I discussed going to one of the popular (and overcrowded) cherry blossoms festivals in other cities, some of my co-teachers scoffingly pointed out that cherry blossoms are everywhere these days, making the festivals unnecessary. Even so, I read that certain places really are worth the visit, and luckily I happened to have a Tuesday off of work for our school's founding anniversary. I figured that, on a random Tuesday afternoon, the crowds should be a lot smaller, and the trip more enjoyable. In fact, I was very, very lucky, because the flowers only blossom for about a week in each location, meaning there's not much wiggle room for planning a visit.

Me with some cherry blossoms outside my school.

Our school's anniversay happened to perfectly coincide with the flowering season in nearby Gyeongju, one of the top cities in Korea for cherry blossom-viewing. Gyeongju is a beautiful city anyway, being the old seat of the Joseon dynasty, and the weather was excellent. I wandered around the city from about 10 to 3, taking many pictures and enjoying the peaceful and refreshing view. Even on a Tuesday, there were plenty of school field trips, families, and other tourists, but it was by no means too crowded. There's lots of pictures (pretty much all of cherry blossoms) after the cut!

Gyeongju World

Last week was the school  picnic week. The second-graders went on a three-day-long picnic to Everland (an amusement park) in Seoul. The rest of us went on a day trip to amusement parks in the area. First-graders to Woobangland and third-graders to Gyeongju World. I went with the third grade because Jung Mi-gyung want me to be in her group. She is afraid of amusement park rides, but decided that she wanted to go on all of them. But the other teachers are always too "cool" or too afraid to go on the rides, so she needed a riding buddy. We even managed to impress the students with our fearlessness. Mi-gyung taught me the phrase:

이것 나는것 안무서워요?
Aren't you afraid of this ride / Isn't this ride scary?

I asked the students that when we ended up in line together. Of course, if they asked me back, I said "아니요!" No!

The weather was really perfect. And the next day was the "radiation rain" day, so we were really lucky. I guess radiation rain would've spoiled the mood of the picnic.

Bwhahahahaha! A few pictures after the cut.

Sandy's Birthday

A few weeks ago Sandy, my friend, had a birthday, which was well-planned out and totally organized, like all events Sandy takes part in. This was a good thing, because she had chosen some fun stuff for us to do. We visited an activity center in a village near Daegu that seemed to have been designed for school field trips and such. There was a big playground with places for students to play traditional Korean games as well as see historical things like an old-fashioned outdoor stove and a stone fountain/stream. There were numerous activities there, including kite-making, candy-making, and strawberry picking, which is what we did.

The weather was perfect, sunny but with just enough wind for kite-flying. It was a little early for strawberry season, but the strawberry "fields" were in a greenhouse, so the strawberries were ripe anyway. Actually, they were quite large and delicious! After all that, we went back to downtown Daegu for a delicious supper, where I ate a burrito, because I periodically miss Mexican food. I'm happy to have found such a good place for burritos so close by. I forgot my camera, so I took a few photos on my iphone, which are after the cut.

Rainy Day

Today is the first day it's rained in awhile. Normally, I like rainy days (especially since yesterday, on the first truly sunny day of the spring/summer, I got sunburned!), but it was hard to appreciate it because everyone kept warning me not to let the rain touch my skin lest I get radiation poisoning. One teacher told me, while we were eating seafood, that we shouldn't eat any seafood, since it might have come from affected waters (Korea imports a lot of seafood from Japan). Some elementary schools in Seoul even closed today so that students wouldn't have to risk going out in the rain. That struck me as odd, since official sources have continually been saying that the radiation levels reaching Korea would be miniscule and harmless. Seems like closing schools will only make people worry more.

We were lucky, though, because yesterday, the day of our school picnic, was bright and sunny - perfect weather. Flowers are starting to bloom and I hardly need a jacket at all anymore. I was also very happy today because I talked to some teachers who barely speak any English. My Korean was terrible and halting, and half made up of pantomime, but we managed to communicate. A little. :)

I guess, you win some and you lose some. Or rather, you lose some and you win some.