I came out of the library just now and walked through the park bathed in spring-tree-smells ... if I knew anything about botany I'd be able to say things like the lush musk of rosewood, the rich stink of cherry ... let's pretend it was just like all that. Anyway, heady and gorgeous. Ran into some of my third graders, confident and shining from their basketball game and smiling all sort of English greetings my way. And genuinely really happy to see me - that never, ever gets old. It's only a two minute walk from the library to my homestay, but it was definitely the best two minutes of my entire week. :)

Some other life-snippits:

One of my dogs, the little one named Jeong, has recently started sneezing compulsively whenever I come back home, and only for maybe the first ten minutes of seeing me.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read Dharma Bums (thanks to Forest for the loan).

I'm hungry now, so I'm gonna go reheat some of that whole baby octopus and beef stir fry in the fridge. Mmmm! ;)

Well, a lot of things have happened in the last week or so, but I haven't done much bloggin'. ;) The weather's been beautiful, and I've been outside every day playing jumprope with the girls (and getting laughed at), running around with the boys (and getting laughed at), and teaching class (... yes, and getting laughed at). ;)

Last weekend JiHyoung and I went to the cherry blossom festival in Jeju City.



I am now of course fully Korean and feel the need to make this pose whenever possible:





Later we visited Ham-deok beach, played some frisbee, and just chilled out. Then we climbed a little oreum (small mountain - okay, small hill) which was in fact another crater. We found this little guy living among the magma:



Then it was out for traditional Korean rice wine (macoli) and some earnest pub-atmosphere-inspired contemplations:





Perfect day? Yes.

In other news, I heard yesterday that my school, Daesin Middle School, has been recognized as having the best English program in ... all of KOREA!! We were also told that some government officials would be coming down to videotape my class, some of my extra programs like the advanced class and my lunchtime program, and some of the other English classes. And that this tape would be shown to the ... president of Korea?? I don't know how much of this is just Daesin propaganda, but ... !! :) Amazing, just amazing. I definitely never thought I'd have school pride, but now I've got it bad. The English department is next to mad with preparations. As for me, this weekend will be devoted to relearning to tie my tie again. I think routinely forgetting it is my last shred of punk-music-teenage-rebellion holding on for dear life. ;) Hello, real world?