Spring Has Come!

Hi, all. You've got Katy this week, and I'm super excited to say that spring FINALLY arrived in Goheung. It happened about as fast as the settling in of winter did. Within a week suddenly the temperatures jumped up about 10 degrees (Celsius), the flowers started blooming and the sun started waking up at a reasonable hour. Obviously, this thrills me! So I ran around all week outside, taking pictures and apologizing to my legs for keeping them cooped up so long.

My first outing was with Song Mi, one of my girlfriends in town. She took me on a drive in place of our usual language exchange one morning to see the flowers. This time of year, the first tree to bloom is what they call the Japanese apricot tree in Korean, or in English, the plum tree. They come in pink and white varieties, just like a dogwood tree and are relatively short little things. Our drive ended at a reservoir that was the most beautiful shade of teal I've ever seen in non-Caribbean water. We sat, chatted, skipped stones, enjoyed the sun, and made plans to come back for a picnic with another girlfriend of ours until it was time to head into town again and open up shop.

 



 

The second outing was with Jamie, and another foreign couple that we have befriended. There is a mountain in Goheung with 8 jagged rocky peaks called Palyeongsan (pal meaning 8 in Korean and san meaning mountain). It is a 550m climb (1,800ft) over the course of just under 3km (1.9miles). Getting up and back down the mountain took about 4 hours, with several breaks. Once at the top you have the option of hiking the ridge, but we had a dinner to keep, so we just called it a day and headed back down. Many parts of the trail were more like a bouldering climb, and the lovely local government had been kind enough to lay down large mats of what looked like a loose hemp weave rug to add traction in particularly dangerous areas. The view from the top was stunning with the ocean around us on three sides. We also had clear views of the islands that J's travel schools are on, as well as the bays and rice fields (or where the rice will be once it is planted in about a month).

A note on our friend's shirt-less-ness in this video... going shirtless is pretty taboo here. It was a gamble that we wouldn't run into anyone else on this hike, because we know how uncomfortable Korean's are with bare skin. You may remember me mentioning before that shoulders are not appropriate to have uncovered for females here, and that rule more or less extends to males as well. And even where it is more okay to have shoulders exposed, certainly no one takes their shirt off completely.

In addition to the flowers, it has been nice to see the fields with color again. Garlic and onions are coming in, and rice will pick up soon. We all know the heat comes next, and then the monsoons, but for now everything is lovely so we're soaking it in. More on this, I'm sure, as the area gets more and more lovely. I've been told the cherry blossoms are coming!

Have a great spring week, everyone!
-K