Springtime in Daegu

It's spring!! Flowers are blooming, trees are a fantastic green, and my kids are more restless than ever. Normally they're pretty focused on the lesson, or only need one sharp reminder from me to get their priorities straight. But recently, the swaying trees and bright blue sky visible through the classroom windows have been pretty distracting. I catch more girls staring wistfully out the window with their chin on their hand than I catch them carving 'Infinite 4 evar' or 'Big Bang is VIP' onto their desks.

That's a lot.

Although I don't leave my (apartment -> school -> apartment) circle too often, even I can enjoy the spring weather. Since I've been here, the trees have been rather lackluster and everything seemed so monochrome. Once the cherry blossoms started to bloom, that was the first sign of spring, but even then they were the only  color to be seen. Pale pink doesn't exactly overwhelm all the gray surrounding it.

Not the greatest photo, but I'm using an iPhone 3. Give me a break

When the cherry blossoms went away, I was worried that that was the end of spring. SO glad I was wrong.

My walk to/from the subway station

I live quite a ways away from downtown Daegu. For the first 2 months, I cursed the fact that I had to be ready an hour before anyone else, that after a long night out, my friends would be in their beds while I was still riding the subway back home. 

Last week, my friends came to this side of Daegu to meet me for BBQ and Iron Man 3, which was their first outing in my neighborhood since we arrived. Turns out I've been taking my scenery for granted. When Sarah told me she hadn't seen the moon since being in Korea, I was completely shocked. Walking from dinner to the movie theater, I could see what they were talking about. There are views of the city a mile in the distance, beautiful trees and flowers, and the biggest patch of open sky that you're likely to find living in a city of 3 million people.

Walk to Daegu Stadium

I think there's a temple if you follow this road, headed up the mountain

While I still get frustrated about the isolation I feel from my friends, I realize now that it's a trade-off. That isolation provides me with a more peaceful environment, somewhere I can go for a walk any time of day just to get out of the hustle and bustle of every day life. Not everyone has that opportunity.

I feel really lucky :)

안녕!

Anyeong!

Bye!