new discoveries

my neutral-colored laundry, or how we dry clothes

The northern permeation of my being isn't clear to me until I look at the color palette of my current wardrobe.
When did I replace the bright colors of L.A. with greys and browns? It has been a process.

I've reached the point in my "post-vegetarian" life when I eat unknown kebab-like chicken on a stick from a cart on the side of the road. I'm not too sure this is where I want to be in my life, but when in Rome....

I was chatting with the cart-owner and was actually impressed with the amount we were able to communicate. With a combination of his barely-English and my barely-Korean, some body gestures, and me saying 맛잇서요 (it's delicious!) several times, we had a decent conversation.

Not to mention, the lady at the rice shop that we go to (a lot apparently) asked me if I wanted "tteok stick," as I lovingly call it, when she told me they weren't serving 참치(chamchi=tuna) gimbap that night. Tteok stick is a deliciously fried treat with garlic pepper sauce spread on it that is...perhaps intended as a treat for young children (I can't find a picture, so I'll take one next time I dine) that I eat often enough for her to remember. Anyway, we had a perfectly normal conversation, in which she told me that they didn't have any gimbap, pointed to the fried foods and said she'd make me a tteok stick in Korean, and I kinda understood her. We laughed together at which point I politely said, 괜찮아요 or "I'm okay." Communication is fascinating.

tiptoeing through the tulips (so to speak,
 since they're not tulips and nobody tiptoed)

Today, my coworker and I walked down the reservoir/pond/lake. Spring is in full session now. All of the cherry blossoms seem to have flown into the sky somewhere, to be replaced with dark green leaves. BUT look at how beautifully pink everything still is. I drank a latte (with heart-shaped latte art) and considered not wearing leggings under my shorts. Let us enjoy this peace, because summers in Korea are known to be terribly humid and uncomfortable.

someone explain this to me

Like I think I mentioned before, there are farms in the most random places. We walked past one on our loop around the lake that had dead, dried out, old, decrepit fish tied to the fence? I am sure this has some sort of meaning, since they also have dried fish in the doorways of some restaurants that I've seen, but I can't find any further information at the moment.




All in all, it was a successful day in Chungju. I hope the spring lasts longer than I think it will.

springtime

Okay, this time I'll just admit that I've been pretty terrible at blogging. And seeing as it's 1:30 in the morning (though I don't work until 2 p.m.,) this will be short and sweet.

It's becoming spring in Korea! ^_^ Most flowers have bloomed and some have already begun to die. Cherry blossom festivals all across Korea that are due to start next week are mourning the early spring. The sun makes me tell myself several times a day to go buy sunscreen.

At that Chungju reservoir thing near E-Mart.

Of course, when I ventured into Seoul this weekend to see the cherry blossom trees in the beautiful sun, it rained on me, but that's neither here nor there since I like the rain.

Namsan Tower

I took a (long and harrowing, but good for me in the end) walk up to Namsan Tower on Saturday. The winding path up to it is lined with cherry blossoms and azaleas. There are staircases through the hills that you can take (which I took, indeed indeed!) that are lined with flowers as well.

gloom and doom

                                      

adoration

Well, that'll do it. I'm listening to "Country Roads" on repeat while I write this, so I think it's time to call it a night.

Not that there will ever be anything wrong with listening to John Denver on repeat. 

For good measure.