,,Der Lenz ist da..."

I have to say that Spring here is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.

Granted, I come from a place that has one and a half seasons, so I think when I see normal things like snow or blooming flowers I get a little excited as if it doesn't exist anywhere else.

The weather is nice; during the day it sometimes reminds me of back home, but not as humid (yet). The evenings are very comfortable. It's a time when I always enjoy being outside.

Since I wrote my last blog post (which I admit was a long time ago), many cool things have happened. Spring has come, and with it I've seen many changes in the look and feel of my surroundings. Also, people are more active and interactive. I went to a cherry blossom festival and it was one of the coolest things I've experienced. On Easter I woke up and hiked up what could technically be called a mountain, but not as big as the ones outside my city. Still, it was refreshing. I'll post some pictures. I constantly admire the beauty of this place. There are so many places outside Korea that I want to see as well, and I hope that my summer vacation (the entire WEEK of it) will take me to an unforgettable place. There are multicolored lamps hanging above the streets of almost every city in my area and it is beautiful at night.

I am still trying new foods, thanks to my Korean friends, and it is awesome. My friends have cooked Korean meals for me in my home and those times are some of my favorites that I've had here.

I haven't reached all of the goals I set for myself in the last post, but I'm having such a fulfilling and rewarding time that I am not upset by it. I did make a sincere attempt to enroll in Korean classes; however due to schedule conflicts and the fact that there isn't enough interest to constitute the formation of a new class (at the level I need to begin at), I was told I must wait. I know there are other options to take lessons, such as other academies that are somewhat far away, but I am looking for something close that is convenient for my Sunday commute. I also didn't join a gym, but I have been consistently working out at home every night in freshman-year-of-FSU Army ROTC fashion.

Part of the reason I have been slow to update my blog is the fact that my work schedule has become ten times busier than last semester. I am staying on top of things, but I don't have free time like I did last semester to have fun with my classes and get to know them outside of the lessons we study. However, I now teach a middle school class about current affairs and we also debate topics we read about in the news. It is probably my favorite class because 1.)  I am a news addict myself, so I can answer a lot of questions related to the issues we briefly read about in teenage-level magazines, and 2.) these students are articulate enough to comprehend almost every single word I say. It is truly awesome. Maybe in the future I will teach adults, who knows?

I don't own a TV, so my news comes from the various international news source websites that I visit multiple times a day. One of the few television shows that I watch regularly is The Daily Show, and I have to say that while it provides me with some much-needed humor after a long day at work, it also makes me very happy to be away from a lot of things that I would be exposed to if I were back in the US. For example, as it is election season, the nausea-inducing state of politics back in the States is much worse than it normally is. Thankfully, my exposure to that is controlled entirely by me; I don't have to be submitted to Fox News or CNN or anything of that nature if I walk into a store or a business establishment here. It is truly refreshing to be away from that atmosphere.

I have a lot I wanted to write but have forgotten. I'll end with this:

My favorite thing about being in Korea is, without a doubt, crossing the Han River at night/ in the early morning as the lights of the city reflect on the water, while the city and the streets are unusually quiet and calm. It is something I'll never forget.