Mid-March Blues and Yellows

Today was the first day I felt well enough to go to yoga in two weeks. Today was a beautiful day, a mid-April day. How can it be mid-April already? The afternoons are so warm here now, sunny and breezy. When I looked at my calendar I almost cried because there is so little time left. I'm ecstatic to be healthy (or almost healthy) again and I plan to stay this way for the rest of the grant year (knock on wood).

A lot has happened since mid-March but most of it involved me coughing, sneezing and oozing. The highlights include: seeing Lee Seung Chul live in concert with my host sisters! Lee Seung Chul has been popular for ages. His most recent single and one of my favorite noraebang songs is My Love. When my host sisters found out he was coming to Gumi they booked our tickets immediately — my first time ever as a VVIP. We were maybe 15 rows away from the stage and had a great time singing, dancing and waving flashing wands. At the end of the concert several ajummas (ladies of a certain age) stood on their chairs and refused to leave the hall, yelling "Oppa! Oppa!"(Oppa is the word Korean women use for an older male friend. Literally translated its meaning is close to 'older brother', but the word is equally appropriate when used to address an older boyfriend.)

At the concert these flashing star wands are almost obligatory.

The week after the concert the cherry trees blossomed letting us know spring is finally here to stay. I visited the Geumosan trail with my host mom to admire the flowers and take some pictures.

Just as I was starting to feel better it was time to fly to Jeju for our Fulbright Spring Conference. Weather there was windy, cold and bright. It reminded me a lot of San Francisco. It was good to see all the other ETAs again, even people who I hadn't spoken to since the last conference, and we had a great time exploring Jeju island. Unfortunately our last evening I got food poisoning, so getting back to school after conference was quite difficult. 

View from Halla Mountain in Jeju.

Catching up with friends :)

It was extremely windy and cool all weekend.

After several doctor's visits I'm finally over everything except some lingering allergies. I had been feeling down, thinking how much time I wasted being sick. However, looking back now I can see how many fun moments I've had in the last month despite feeling under the weather. It's an important lesson to remember as this grant year rushes to a close, often we are doing more than we believe. It's also a good reason to keep recording, here on the blog or in my journal, because sometimes it provides a more honest perspective than my memory.