Full speed ahead

A few weeks ago it dawned on me that my time in this country is limited. And as soon as that happened, the weather picked up, with days of sunshine and brightness gracing us for all the adventures that laid in store.

The past couple of weeks have been filled with trips to amusement parks, neighbouring cities, traditional markets and coffee shop terraces.

May 1st was spent at Lotte World for my friend J's surprise birthday party. Lotte World is the equivalent of Canada's Wonderland in terms of amusement parks, with the exception of fancier decor and an indoor park to compliment the lavish outdoor playground. Seven friends and I spent the day being kids, while indulging in all the fair food we could get our hands on. We paid for it by feeling ill in the days that followed, but for the time spent in laughter and giddiness, it was absolutely worth it.

The main castle at Lotte World amusement park in Seoul. Has a definite Cinderella feel to it.

May 5th was Children's Day in Korea. It was a national holiday, so all schools were closed, including banks and some government buildings. Three friends and I decided to take a day trip to Incheon to check out the country's biggest Chinatown, while eventually winding up at the ferry docks, where we indulged in a few carnival rides.

Chopstick sets at a traditional Chinese store in Incheon's Chinatown.

The close to perfect weather has been bringing us out of hiding a lot more these days. It's starting to make up for the endless months we spent indoors, avoiding the bitter, winter cold, and then, the brutal yellow dust that followed with spring.

A shot of the fairgrounds at the Incheon ferry docks.

It's been nice seeing people less tense than they were in the previous months. There's a sense of lightness in the air, along with more opportunities to explore the country I've been living in for the past eight months.

A large number of the friends I've made here will be heading back to their own countries in August. I can't imagine what it will be like saying goodbye to people who've become like my family while living in this country. In fact, I can easily say that some of them are my family. Yet, I find it comforting to see beauty in these circumstances, knowing that I now have a global network of friends who I'm sure I'll be seeing quite often - in different parts of the planet.

They say everything in life happens for a reason... and if that's true, then coming to Korea was a wonderful idea, if the reason was to meet kindred spirits such as them!

xo
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Hampyeong Butterfly Festival

This past weekend, three friends and I ventured on a spontaneous trip down south to Jeollanam province, to check out their annual butterfly festival.


The 12th Hampyeong Butterfly Festival was a refreshing sight after months of dreariness during the long, cold winter in Seoul. It being the end of April, we were craving moments of Spring in all it's glory, and wanted to experience and be around nature.

We took a bus from Seoul to Gwangju city, followed by a short transfer to Hampyeong - a rural town in the province. The differences between this place and Seoul were drastic to say the least.


Acres of land with trees, flowers and streams replaced the concrete jungle that I've gotten so used to. The air was fresher, the people smiled more, and there was an overall sense of calm and peace.

It was exactly what my mind, body and spirit needed, after coming back from Thailand. The new semester got off to a chaotic start at my school, and I quickly became quite overwhelmed; not to mention, I'd also been sick for the entire month of March and some of April. So, escaping to an event such as this, was just perfect.

It was a lovely day for families and couples to be out and about, enjoying the events at the festival. We couldn't have asked for better weather, as the sun was shining the entire time we were there. I managed to take some good people shots, some of which included children who had their faces painted with butterflies on them.


The Korean countryside is beautiful, to say the least. It's traditional farmland, with hints of modern technology, all merged into one. We took the KTX back to Seoul from Gwangju on Sunday, and were able to really enjoy the lovely scenery, during our three-hour journey.


I've now realized how easy it is to travel around Korea, and plan on getting out of Seoul as much as I can on weekends. Transportation is a breeze, and there's numerous festivals and events that happen all around the country that I can check out. It's a win-win situation, because I'll be happy to escape the chaos of the city, and my camera will be happy with all the photos.


xo
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When nature greets the city

I'd been hearing about the infamous Korean cherry blossoms all throughout winter. "Just wait! All this cold will be worth it when you see the pretty flowers," my co-teacher said one day, as we froze ourselves at school.

"When will they arrive?" I asked, hopeful of a beautiful vision that I could look forward to in the months ahead.

"Spring, of course!" she said. "Somewhere in March."

Of course.

Flash forward to the middle of April.

The blossoms hadn't yet arrived. There were trips planned by tourism companies to take visitors on grand 'cherry blossom tours'. Though they still went ahead, there were none to be seen. Luckily, I held back on the tours, for fear of freezing to death... camera held firmly in hand.

I did take a short day-trip to Yeouido Island in the heart of Seoul, looking for these special trees. Again, I was at a loss, save for a few blooms in the ground.

Then, last Saturday morning, I awoke to the following scene outside my window.

The first of the cherry blossoms on my street in Anam.

I was pleasantly surprised and absolutely thrilled. These flowers had literally bloomed overnight. I was even more excited at the prospect of seeing the beauty without having to leave my apartment.

Flash forward to six days later, and this is the current scene.

If you'll note, the second tree has also taken full bloom.

This is the view along my street in Anam. The flowers have completely canopied what used to be a bare and rather lifeless street in terms of nature. Beautiful, isn't it?

There's something very 'Asian' about the cherry blossoms. I know it sounds silly, but I've usually related them to Japanese gardens and zen parks. It's so amazing that I get to see them every day, as I walk up and down the street in Seoul. It's just another one of the lovely surprises this city has thrown my way.

Here are the blossoms, up close. They're very dainty looking.

It's an amazing sight when they're up against the dark, night sky. They stand out so perfectly, and almost seem to glow, lighting up the entire street. I wish you could see them in reality.

As one of my students put it, "The blossoms make my eyes happy!"

So, here's to Spring finally swinging by the Land of Morning Calm. And here's to all your lives blossoming into something rather special in the weeks ahead!

xo
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Yellow dust over Spring

I'm sorry for the lack of posting, dear readers. It's been on heck of a few days since I last had a chance to write.

As some of you know, the new school semester is well underway, here, in Seoul. And with the start of a new school year comes a new schedule and different responsibilities. I happened to fall into both these categories, with a packed schedule, after-school classes and responsibilities that include creating speaking tests for every child at my school. Needless to say, I spend every moment outside of teaching, either nose-high in lesson plans, or banking in sleep hours. Would you believe me if I told you I've been falling asleep no later than 10 p.m. everyday?

Last Saturday was a first for me. Already feeling quite under the weather, I decided to spend the weekend in my neighbourhood, with hopes of getting ahead on some lesson planning. S came over for breakfast and we both agreed that the day, being dull enough with promises of rain, would be better spent indoors. We decided to go across the street from my apartment, to our usual hairstylist, hoping that a cut, wash and color would brighten our moods on yet another bleak weekend.

Later on that afternoon, back in my apartment, we looked outside to see a sky lit up in shades of yellow and pink tones.

"It looks kind of cool, doesn't it?" S said. "It's almost got a pinkish hue to it."

It did. I thought it was pretty as well, because everything seemed brighter. And after having had bad weather for the past few days, this almost seemed refreshing.

Little did we realize that the yellow hue was actually the infamous yellow dust that had blown into Seoul from Northern China.

We'd been warned about this in our earlier months in Korea. We were told that once springtime came about, we'd be hit with bouts of this yellow dust, which was guaranteed to make us ill and catalyze any underlying allergies or colds we were already carrying around.

However, with the weather still feeling like winter that day, we didn't think of this and continued to admire the sky by sticking our heads out the window.

Yellow dust (or sand) over Seoul on Saturday, March 20, 2010

Waking up the next morning with a sore throat, swollen throat glands and a pounding headache was all the reality check we needed of what had happened to us. That, and the link posted on Facebook by J, noting that this was the worst yellow dust storm Seoul had seen in recent years.

Great.

Flash forward to today: Me, lying in bed, trying to cough up a lung, soup, Tiger Balm and Tylenol on hand, with BBC's Pride and Prejudice as entertainment.

My bad.

So, it turns out the weather is playing a bigger role in affecting my moods and health, here, in Korea, than it ever did while I lived in Canada. It can't be helped -- one day we're battling hazardous dust storms from China, and the next we're dealing with hail and ice storms on what promised to be a 'sunny' day.

My only hope now is that Spring rears its head just in time for Easter. I can't imagine battling a snowstorm on Easter!

xo
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Image courtesy of Yonhap News Agency (Google Images)