Restless Seoul : Cherry Blossoms and All That Spring Stuff

Hi all!

I've been having some really bad days lately, emotionally, so I couldn't really bring myself to blog. I still don't feel great, but I don't want a million things to do after this weekend, so here it is.

School has been on and off lately since my kids keep doing field trips and mandatory seminars and other nonsense. I also have a lot more time since I don't have to make everything from scratch for each lesson. We already did the books, so I have a lot of materials. It has been good for watching Signal, the best kdrama and tv show I've watched in a while, but it hasn't been good for me emotionally since when I have too much time and nothing to do it makes me anxious. An unfortunate byproduct of my personality and grad school, I suppose.

Anyway on Wednesday we went strawberry picking and hiking. There was supposed to be a strawberry festival, but it got cancelled. Oh well. The strawberries were good and it was fun to pick them.

And fun to eat them.

There was also this cute dog.

Then we were supposed to see the cloud bridge at Daedunsan, but the cable car wasn't working and we didn't have enough time, energy, or skill to scale the whole mountain as our first outing after winter.

Flowers blooming

Where we should have quit

The only stairs

What most of the way up was like

After we quit we felt a lot better

We made it about halfway up, but the next half was even steeper and rockier, so we decided not to risk it. Tina and I have terrible cable car luck (Seoraksan it started working an hour after we go there but it wasn't when we first arrived and in Beijing the Great Wall one was shut down for high winds) and this was no exception. We saw them testing it on our way down though.

Flower time

Fuck you, cute cable car thing. Y u no work

Same to you, mister

On Sunday we made our way to dance. I was excited because they had asked Tina and I to do a tutorial video with them, but it was for SNSD/GG's "I Got a Boy"

I do not know why, but I really hate this song. It's just really annoying to me, and like GG/SNSD is trying to hard to be hip. Idk. I like them when they're cute.

You can actually see my disdain for the song while we did it.

I really can't even explain what it is that I don't like about the song. It feels really disjointed and like 4 different songs in one. But I like other songs that do weird stuff like that? Idk.

The class was on the whole a little more enthusiastic than I was, and our teacher slays as always.

I was a little more pleasant in the tutorial because I want to help out the studio, but I think I'm awkward on camera. oh well. I hope I can do it for a song I like next time.

This week I just watched Signal (drama summary: A walkie-talkie in the present somehow picks up signals from a detective in the past, Lee Jae Han (Jo Jin Woong). Police profiler Park Hae Young (Lee Je Hoon) finds this walkie-talkie and uses it to help solve cold cases. Detective Cha Soo Hyun (Kim Hye Soo), who was once a rookie at Lee Jae Han’s station, leads the cold-case team. Thanks to Park Hae Young (and Lee Jae Han), the team solves infamous cold cases. But communicating with the past has consequences.) and helped my coteacher with her thesis since my 6th graders were on a field trip and I didn't have much to teach.

The poster for Signal. I wish I had more energy to explain just how incredible this drama was. I'm a sucker for time loops and past/present consequences so it was really good. Each minute felt valuable and the emotional payoff was intense. Loved it.

Wednesday we had one last dinner with our coordinator, Jon, from SMOE. He's been really great and helped us all a lot, so it was sad to say goodbye.

But the sandwiches were great.

Anyway, it's cherry blossom season and I took a walk on Thursday near my apartment to clear my head and my heart a bit. It was nice.

You should play this song while you look at the pictures for the authentic Korean experience:

Seriously. You'll hear Busker Busker's "Cherry Blossom Ending" more times than you care to remember during this time of the year. But it's a really great song and is always stuck in my head these days. I wonder why.

Some of my favorite lyrics:

How is this love song
that you hear right now?
I hold hands with you, whom I love
As we walk together on this unknown street

As the spring wind blows
The scattering cherry blossom petals
Spread out on this street
As we walk together

Enjoy a few pictures:

This couple was taking couple pictures in their couple clothing

Feeling good among the blossoms with my Coffee Bean drink

And here are a few from my walk to school every morning, which is the opposite direction from the previous pics:

It's such a shame they'll be gone soon...

This weekend I'm going to Jindo and the Boseong green tea fields, so maybe I'll be able to get back into good spirits.

If not, I always have my cats: