Spring has not sprung

Annyeonghaseyo from Korea (if you plan on visiting me, you might want to remember this one word, meaning 'hello'). Today I have officially been an alien in Korea for four weeks. What a feeling and accomplishment. At this point, I'm pretty much in my weekly routine at school, although it is very much an on-the-job-training position.

As you noticed in this installments title, spring has only shown glimpses of existence here. This past weekend I joined a rowdy bunch of Badgers (Univ of Madison has a lot of teachers in my school district) on an excursion to Songnisan National Park, which is about 2-3 hours south of Seoul. It was a nice opportunity to see the contrasting rural life in Korea (something that one would doubt exists from where I live in the concrete jungle). There were beautiful mountains all around, a large Buddha statue, and our campground was free of charge (we came before the camping season started apparently). We learned why this was maybe not the most ideal time to go camping. I've never been so cold that I couldn't sleep, but I guess there's a first for everything. However, we did survive, and, smelling heavily of bonfire smoke, we made our way back home the next day. It never felt so good to crawl into my own bed.

In other news, I have met a few new people this week. By chance, I walk by a small neighborhood hair salon/coffee shop everyday when I come home from work. I hardly noticed it at first, until I noticed the Korean babe who was consistently standing behind the counter. Everytime I walk by, there is definitely some sustained eye contact. So naturally I was intrigued. I slowly mustered up the courage to smile at her, and once this was successful, I upgraded to the wave. One thing must lead to another, and I couldn't think of another gesture that follows the wave, so I decided that I had to go buy a cup of coffee from her. After chickening out a few times, I had to psyche myself up, like a pro athlete before the big game, and I finally made it to checkpoint Charlie. I quickly came to realize that she spoke very little English, and that the older woman in the shop was her mother. However, they were both very nice and we attempted to communicate for a short while. I learned that she teaches at a university nearby during the day, and very little else. But how exhilirating! Enough about my cliched romance...
Anyways, I also met another white person in my neighborhood. She also teaches at a middle school, and is on her second year. She is also quite a bit older than me, but at least I have a few tsentsai's in the neighborhood to give me advice and grab some dinner from time to time.

Above pic: The oldest remaining wooden temple in Korea. It's about 600 years old. I guess most of the major ones burned down either by natural causes or some occupying country destroying them.

Below pic: A large golden Buddha statue in the temple complex in the foreground of the surrounding mountains.