안녕하십니까? 잘 지냈어?
How have you been? I am back for you, my dear Internet creatures~
(everyone: She's back! Run!!)
Today is Day 268~
At this point so much has happened since I last wrote I don't even think I could attempt to convey it to you chronologically as I have been before. So forget the past GOLO blog you once knew. That Gabby is gone! All the comfort you once had in this world is lost. Like dear Tyrion and Cersei Lannister enjoy saying: A day will come when you think you are safe and happy, and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth.
That day has come! Though I really have no cause to hurt you dear reader, and no evil debts to pay... just a debt to write more as soon and often as possible...
From now on I introduce you to Gabby's Completely Not Chronological In Any Way Vignettes!
Enjoy~
I Heard it from the Bees
I went on a run this morning. It's my favorite old route, but the last time I went that way was a good three or four weeks ago, when there was still snow on the forested trail.
Today is a beautiful day. Sunshine and happiness.
I even wore short sleeves and felt completely comfortable!
It was quiet on my side of the river. Just the occasional duck quack and the distant sound of cars from across the river.
Allow me to give you a glimpse into my train of thought:
La di da. Happy Gabby. Look at how fast I am bzzzz~ I have quite a bit of energy bzzzzzzzzzzz~ considering I just had orange juice and a quarter of that Fazer chocolate bar from my Finnish host family (kiitos!) for bre- BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
breakfast?
Wait. Why is there a sound like the SFX used in movies when a bee swarm attacks someone? (HUNGA GAMES!!!!)
The bee sound fades slightly, so I know I'm not being chased and soon to be killed.
That's good.
I turn to see a starling amount of yellow. Hwacheon is still, for the most part, brown. The snow is almost all melted, leaving the surrounding mountains that once, for most of winter, looked like a very pale person's unshaven legs, turn into fuzzy brown-haired buzz-cut heads. Brown and brown and dead plants and brown and oh hey a few conifers so there's a bit of dark green (ain't got nothing on the PNW) but then there's this yellow. Yellow? Is this what the Southern folk call "color", this yellow?
I realize, OMG A TREE IS STARTING TO BLOOM!
All the bees of Hwacheon certainly realized this too. Because every little yellow flower on this tree had a bee busily buzzing away and rolling around in pollen like I would roll around with baby seals, Baymax, and marshmallows if ever given the chance.
Oh yeah~
The little blossoms had tiny tiny petals and a bunch of mini stamen, though there was very little of their fluffy, thick, yellow pollen left on the stamen themselves. The bees were so enthusiastic about these first flowers, they'd unabashedly draped themselves in pollen. All the bees looked about twice their size, and covered in yellow sprinkles. Like this (except I definitely never got this close to examine the bees)
I continued my run like the fool I am, singing songs and swinging my arms in windmills~
Spring is finally coming to Hwacheon!
Friends for a Day
It was nearing the end of my very long winter vacation. I was in the middle of a 3 night/4 day get-away in Seoul.
Today I had signed up for a day tour through SM Entertainment. It was a new program, so we got the tour for free in return for our opinions shared at a survey at the end of the day.
Our tour group was truly the most international group of 12 people I have ever spent a day with. There was me, a white American girl, a Chinese girl, two Malaysian men and a Malaysian girl, two men from Nepal, a boy from the Phillippines, a girl from Germany, a girl from Japan, and two more men who I don't remember if they were from Laos or another country... (야~ This vignette is from over a month ago, and I didn't really talk with those guys)
Now I've been doing a lot of solo travel. And to be honest, I've always been fine with good ol' me time. Doing my own thang. As Rap Monster says: do you. So I got off this tour bus at our first stop, politely smiling at everyone, but clearly heading off on my own to explore. I shared a few short greetings with some people, but once we have completely discussed the wonderful small talk of weather or where we're from, I, as usual, see no point in forcing further conversation. Silence and peace for me~
Our first stop was Namsan Tower, a tower on a mountainy-hill in Seoul, so it has a very good view of the city. Here's how it looks normally, in all it's glory:
And here's how it looked the day I went on this tour:
Beautiful as a painting right? And what a great angle for a shot too!
It was extremely cloudy and we couldn't see any of Seoul from the mountain...
But no matter! It wasn't that cold. The fog has its own quiet beauty. I was determined to wander around and observe happily like usual.
Just as I was beginning my peaceful wandering, two of the guys from our group beckoned me over to them. One was a student in Seoul from the Phillipines and the other was a worker from Malaysia. More often than not, just talking to the opposite sex makes me uncomfortable and I almost always doubt their intentions. Why talk with me? This day, maybe it was the calm of the fog, or my super sensitive part of the mind was on vacation, I honestly just thought these guys were good people.
They were friendly and I then had a very strange thought, "Why not hang out with these people today?"
And that, my dear readers, marks the first day Gabby socialized with humans she didn't already know nor was required to socialize with for a day. At least since the time Gabby was a very small human and had no conception of self-awareness (that Gabby lived up to her namesake and talked to everyone).
(yes, she joined in too despite this internal dialogue of mine)
Despite our inability to appreciate Namsan's main features (the view and locking romantic locks for couples...) we had a pretty great time hanging out. We played traditional Korean games: spinning tops with a whip, chasing wheels, and throwing weighted arrows. And we took so many photos...
And when we went to our next location, COEX Mall, I went ahead of everyone, automatically preparing for normal the Gabby solo wandering routine... and the next thing I know, these three all are by my side again. So again, we have fun together and get lunch.
And we never saw each other again.
The end.
Hey this is a vignette, I can't tell you everything that happened that day! Maybe you'll get more about this day in another vignette later ;)
And thank you dear person for reading this here blog. This is a gif I used in a PowerPoint for my 6th graders and they loved it:
(Yeah I teach 6th grade now... a story for another time...)
BYE!
G-g-g-gabby!
