Saying Goodbye

On Friday I taught my last class.

On Friday I couldn't walk to a classroom at the end of the 3rd grade corridor because dozens of seemingly small and cute minions were clinging to me and pulling me apart, all while chanting "가지마", Korean for "Don't go".

On Friday after my 20th or so shot of soju with another random teacher at our staff dinner I found my eyes flooded with tears I couldn't say why were coming, so while laughing, I assured the concerned stares that my red, wet face "그냥 취해서" "It's just because I'm drunk".

I have so many stories from the past week that I never want to forget. So I want to share them with you here now. Yes, I am strapping myself in this chair and finally writing more blog entries (lolz I'm actually in bed because I'm lazy and this is my house and nobody can see me or know that I'm... wait. Oops)

Yes, this post will be slighty sappy and full of feels. I know this isn't everyone's cup of tea (except for maybe you, Mom) so I will as usual include gifs (especially crying Jonghyun gif because he cries all the time and is adorable) along with my misplaced humor. Let's go!

When I think back to this month two years ago, when I planned and taught my first classes ever for Camp Fulbright, an English sumer camp progam we provide to both help young students, train new teacher, and give experienced teachers even more experience~ well I wasn't very confident I could be a teacher back then. Even now, though lesson planning doesn't give me stress dreams every night anymore, I still doubt if I actually am (was?) a good teacher.

I do know that I loved each and every one of my little monsters. From the ones with bright eyes eager to share what they learned in private academies to the ones who fight and ignore me until I work with them one on one, forcing them to keep their head up or stay in their seat long enough to do the activity. I love them so much that when I heard that this girl and that boy suddenly had to change schools because a parent is in the military and they have to move again, I cry for those lost last few days were could've had together until summer vacation.

My emotions are very jumbled, as I am not heading home right away, I can't really convince myself that this is goodbye. I didn't really cry in my last classes (though I got misty eyed when I taught one of my final fourth grade classes and Byeong Jun, the sweetest, chubby-cheeked, retainer-induced lisping boy shouted at the top of his lungs like he does to start every class, "Hello Sunny Teacher! Hello Gabby Teacher!" for his last 인사 ever... that did get me like:

 

 

Since there is still this final week ahead when I will deskwarm and clean up (no English classes) but the students will still be around for their final homeroom classes, I will be able to play with everyone then, and I'll be in Hwacheon even longer (and I always see my students around town, though they feel more awkward about running up for hugs and playing together outside of school). So I don't really have a definite "goodbye everyone" time in my head, well not beyond when I actually board the plane to head home in September.

 

 

 

Okay okay. We get it. Gabby is an emotionally confused blob. Let's get on with funny anecdotes!

Stories from my final weeks of teaching:
After I missed a final 3rd grade class due to schedule changes, my co-teacher ended up telling the students while I was teaching a different class that they won't get to see Gabby Teacher anymore. That started the flood. From the break time after that class until now, students have been writing me letters. That first day I would have 20 students at a time around my desk. Giving hugs and scribbled words on scrap pieces of paper. Even the ones that just say "Goodbye" in Korean "안녕히가세요" I treasure them all. Even the ones that don't spell my name correctly or even close, like the one that says "바비 선생님" or "Babee Teacher", even then I love it.

There is one letter that wins the "I will never forget you" competition. One third grader, who I'm proud has matured beyond simply screaming at the top of her lungs while I try to teach class, gifted me with this:

Inside was this:

This gooey monster is all the rage (apart from Pokemon cards, 딱지 a game where you slap things on the ground really hard to try and flip them over, Pokemon 딱지, and 공기 a game where you throw little pebble things in patterns and if you drop one you're out). But unlike all the other little things that my students use to play with, this gooey thing doesn't clean up very nicely. And since you can't just throw it in your backpack to play with later, students leave it on their desks and continue to poke and play with it during class. So yes, I have some history with this blobby thing. I slid as much as I could off of the ruined paper and into a very thick plastic cup, then ripped off the soaked paper so I could save what was left of her letter. This girl and her crazy antics will never ever be forgotten.

Finally, last week had another challenge beyond holding back tears, Sunny Teacher and I had to present and open class. There are two types of open classes in Korea. One is "open" in the sense that student's parents can come and watch the class their student is in. Another is a class where any teacher/administrator can come and watch your class along with filing out forms that critique your teaching. Yeah, the second one is a lot more nerve-wracking, because even if parents can complain and critique just as much if not more, it's the other teachers who actually know what their talking about and whose opinions I greatly value.
We had the second kind of open class last week.
Yay.
To keep things short, the first two forth grade classes that we tried the lesson on (before the official big open class) were awful with children fighting and crying and not focusing at all. We were sure we were doomed. But these angels can surprise us in so many ways. IT WAS PERFECT. THE STUDENTS WERE ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS. We reviewed a lesson on weather and what to wear (clothing) then added on suggestions (ie. Let's~) then had the students prepare a skit. The skits were hilarious, with students surprising me with their bravery and humor. I was laughing with tears and the 10 teachers and principal who came to watch laughed too.

To celebrate the great success of our open class and say goodbye, Sunny teacher invited me to "have dinner" in Chuncheon with her along with the old English head of the department Sujin Teacher. As I live in Hwacheon, and am a foreigner, I have never been invited to "have dinner" with my seniors. And it is something I've always wanted to do. As a frequet Kdrama viewer and Korean culture scholar, the comradery of getting absolutely drunk with your co-workers is a pretty essential part of Korean culture, and even though I worked in Korea the past two years, I was left out of it.  

  

The dream

We got really drunk. I slept on Sunny Teacher's floor that night and wore the same clothes the next day (The same day we had company dinner when I had a billion shots with everyone...) We got hangover soup early in the morning, got to school before everyone, and blasted Kpop in the classroom that morning screaming like fan girls.
Dreams do come true.

I hope I can write more soon! Wish me luck containing the feels.

Buhbye
바비 선생님

Yes, I'm still here. (but for how long??)

Well well well...

Look who it is.

Gabby has decided to bashfully poke her head out from hermit-dom. Is anyone still here to read this?



I'm sorry everyone.
I have spectacularly failed my new years resolution to write two or more blog posts a month.

I really can't blame anything other than my laziness, but to make it seem like I have an adequate excuse, let me tell you on what I've done the past two months. :)

The new school year started with some big changes like I mentioned in one of my last posts. That was stressful and gave me more worries than I should have had. And only a few weeks in (into the new semester) we had our Fulbright spring conference in Jeju-do and the weekend after that I took a Korean proficienty test (TOPIK) so I actually was pretty busy prepping for that conference and studying Korean every second possible.

Once that was over (around mid-April) I wanted to explore more on the weekends and started visiting other teachers' placements in Korea on the weekend (since I was free from locking myself in to study). But it's not like I traveled every weekend...

But the time to run away from writing is over! I will force myself to finish all my barely written posts about winter break~ Thus showering you dear readers with blog posts!

 

Well... y'know.. maybe

(if I just trap myself and poop it out)

 

And when I've caught up, then I can write more about current events (like this week in Hwacheon we've hit 90 degrees!)

For now I just want to give you a very important update. Around this time last year I wrote a post telling you all about my decision to renew and stay in Hwacheon another year.


....


Well this time my announcement is:

I'M GOING HOME!

(just in time for Trump's big election! America, what have we done??)

I'll be back in Oregon around the beginning of September. My contract officially ends in the end of July but I will stay to travel around a bit before crossing the big blue Pacific and making my grand return with suitcases of stuff. Ame---rica~ Ame----rica~

I'm really excited to go home. I went home for about two weeks for the holidays this past winter and I felt like I had been away for too long. Honestly, I'm really proud of my home state, Oregon, and tend to talk it up whereever I go... but maybe I wasn't in the right to. Following my loftly acclaims, some college friends/travel acquaintences have travelled to Portland and asked for my advice... and (besides Powells) all my recommendations were fit for kids (cough OMSI cough). Because I've never really been an adult in Oregon. I don't know what hiking trails or bars to recommend. As someone who still doesn't possess a drivers license, I don't have transportation advice beyond the MAX.

This isn't for forever of course. I still want to travel around the world and very well may spend my future bouncing around abroad, but to be a better cultural ambassador and properly brag about my beautiful home state, I think I should spend some more time there (plus I miss seeing friends and family beyond facebook).

Don't ask me what I'm going to do. I have some jobs I'm interested in... and possible graduate study tracks, but for now I just want to think about my kiddos here and live out my final days in Hwacheon to the best I can.


That's all for now! Short and simple, I'm not renewing my contract. I still love my students and Korea, but I think we could both use some distance to grow and appreciate each other more ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!
주말 잘 보내세용~

GABBY THE OREGONIAN

Dogs: Reflecting on Korean culture and myself

*Warning: this is a potentially controversial post. I think animal rights activists and Korean nationalists alike could read this an find fault. And yet here it is, uploaded here for you to choose to read, because I had to get this out of my circling loopdy-loo brain. I'm conflicted.
So.
Conflicted.

Okay, this is so true... but not related.

And what I'm about to write is actually really serious so... no more funny gifs. Let Mindy fill you up and then read on.

Let's stop dancing around. Here we go.
I am about 98% certain that several of the farms around me raise dogs for meat.
That's quite an assumption, young missy.
It is an assumption, but after biking past these few farms almost every day for over 7 months, and seeing rows of cramped cages with dogs inside that never move or do anything but bark, right in front of the cows they are "raising" stuck inside in a reflected formation and comparable living standards? Yeah, these dogs aren't for playdates.
Yes, some people eat dogs in Korea. Now I know that this is super sensitive. If you don't know it's sensitive, check out the response to that infamous comic production thing, "The Interview".
Or I can break it down for you: Loud Westerner condemns (so-called) backward lesser foreigner culture (Korean) for eating dog. Korean immediately denies that they eat dog and are civilized and not backwards and just shut up Westerner.
Yes, the vast majority of Koreans have never had dog meat. Any student I've asked is abhorred about eating dog meat (Unless they're being smart about how hungry they are, and they literally claim to eat anything I suggest, slug book rock Gabby-teacher included) And I've taught a good 450 kids at this point. And this is the "countryside". Korean city-folk are even more likely to proclaim disgust about dog meat and Seoulites especially like to point the blame for dog meat to the country.
To my knowledge it's actually becoming illegal if not strongly discouraged by the government (precisely because they don't want the big loud Westerner to call their culture lesser). Yet people still do eat dog meat. Who? Probably elderly people or tourists. I don't know.

The scary thing is, when I bike past these rows of cages with barking dogs inside, I am incredibly indifferent. The once absurdly outspoken animal-lover in me, shuts up.

Why?

Earlier in one my first video calls home since moving out to my own house in Aug/Sept and when I was just discovering my new neighborhood in farmland Hwacheon, I was not in the best mood, and snapped at my parents when they said something like "poor dogs" after hearing my descriptions. Honestly, after a long work day, the overwhelming noise of dogs barking is scary and unsettling and, in that moment, made me hate them. I still remember this conversation because after I snapped, my parents stayed very quiet and still, and I knew I had shocked them. I had changed.

Once again, why? Why, Gabby??

Hmm. Because it'd honestly be so hypocritical of me to claim that putting dogs in cages to eat is inhuman when I am so very well aware of the conditions of any other meat/dairy item I consume.

There are documentaries about it. We make children's movies about it. We know that lives for chickens and pigs and cows really really really sucks. Factory farms feed our ever demanding demand for more. It's all over our media and surrounding our senses. We know. Does that stop everyone from getting their terriyaki/taco/steak/burger/meatloverspizza fix? No. Some people, sure. The vast majority, no.

Even learning about things like the greenhouse gases of cow farms and environmental problems really freaks me out, yet I still eat that meat. A cynical part of me knows that if I refuse that pork dumpling, someone else will eat it or it'll go to waste anyways. I can't bring that animal or this animal back to life by not eating food thats already prepared.

Let's take an unnecessary look at my life shall we?

I ate meat growing up because my mom served me meat in some meals, and I don't turn down Mom's food (it's the best).

I was vegetarian freshman year of college when I celebrated finally getting to choose what goes on my plate in the dining halls.

In sophomore year, I learned that to be culturally adaptable and unburden-some when studying abroad in Asia (and many other foreign countries) just accept what your host family eats (and honestly most restaurants won't know how to really deal with you as a vegetarian abroad) so, valuing world and cultural experience over unsustainable "hippie" animal protection, I weaned back to the meats.

Even after returning to meat, I don't qualify as a meat-lover. The animal products I regularly use in my kitchen this year are basically limited to eggs and milk (also because meat is $$$ and tofu/no meat saves me so much $$$). In our school's "company dinners" 회식 we often get Korean barbecue and grill meat, but other than that, I could be back to veggie me of 5+ years afore.

Back to the dogs. Beyond feeling hypocritical about condemning how farmers treat any animal here, I have noticed my general perception of dogs changing. Korea was not a very "pet-loving" country for a while. A lot has changed over the past few decades, as you can see from Simon and Martina's recounting of their first years teaching here around 2008-2013 and comparing the pet culture to their first days in Japan in 2016, or even in the growth of animal friendly recreation with animal cafes and whatnot.

Even though Korea has become much more accepting of pets, there are some strong-held beliefs that many people here still hold onto (in my observations).

1) Big dogs are scary.
From Seoul, to Hwacheon, I rarely see people taking big dogs for walks. The majority of dogs I see in public are tiny, cute, "unthreatening" breeds. I have seen some wonderfully cared for dogs of all sizes in a dog cafe in Busan (more of a, owner's out, dog go socialize in this cafe with people who pay to watch/pet/adore you)

Photo credit to Monica ~

Every once in a while, I'll see a bigger breed in Seoul, but the smaller dogs are simply more desired. (And the smaller "cute" dogs I see are treated comparable to how they are treated in America, doted on, carried around, shown off, dressed up, given Instagram accounts. So number 2 doesn't apply to them (most small dogs))


2) Dogs aren't indoor friendly. Or "man's best friend".
In Hwacheon, there's tons of houses with a medium-sized dog or two or three as a "pet" but they are always outside, and more often than not, on a tiny chain/leash. All. the. time. Truly.
I know Leanndra's host family last year let their dogs inside (at least in the mud room/sheltered area) when it was winter, but all the farm houses around where I live now left their dogs out in the cold all winter long. I never see kids playing with dogs or really any humans interacting with their dogs left outside unless it's to give their food (leftovers usually). And forget regular baths as well (again, Leanndra's host family is an exception, I heard stories of their washing adventures and we all socialized with her dogs often). It's just such a different mindset here. The dogs for the family below me are basically just to bark at the crows and mockingbirds that could come to potentially eat the crops/grains. It they don't do their job, the mother comes out and scolds them. I think these dogs could be viewed as workers just to guard. Their only duty is to bark. Not be a companion or friend. Just bark at everything.

I can't deny it, this mindset has been rubbing off on me too. Me, who begged for a dog my whole childhood and loves every one of my friend's furry friends back home. I get easily spooked by these dirty, mistreated dogs on chains in front of their houses (or caged for whatever reason...). They bark every time I go past and it's never a friendly sound. A few months ago, the nearby farms covered the front of the cow barn and dog cages so I can't see the animals, but I still can hear them. Not seeing them just makes me more indifferent. My bike has been squeaking more this past month, which just makes the dogs go more crazy as I bike up the hill. So I try to bike past as fast as I can.

Sigh.
I know this post will set many of you readers off, as if I have brushed you the wrong way, sprayed something in your eye, scraped metal on metal. I apologize. I truly just wanted to write about this change within my mind that is twisting my heart.

If you are in Korea and have a different view on how dogs are treated, let me know. What is it like where you live? Hwacheon certainly isn't all of Korea.

If you are in another country please collect your thoughts and try to be reflective as you write your response (I do want to know your response!) Just please don't be too quick to condemn this culture you probably don't fully understand.

Before I leave you, thinking about how to process a very different culture and poor Gabby's inner turmoil, I have a ray of starlight. A chunk of rainbow in this sad gloomy post. There is this one farm-house I bike past on my way to town, and they recently got an adorable little puppy (yes they leave it outside, in this rounded meshed off area). It's so fluffy and happy, every time it hears my bike approach its little tail starts wagging crazily and it bounds around waiting for me to say hello. This little puppy has saved me from thoughts like, "Do I hate all dogs now? Am I truly heartless?"
By not terrifying me with barking and teeth, this puppy just want to be loved, and I have stopped every morning and evening, no matter how late I am or exhausted, and I recharge my happiness cuddling this little fluff-ball.
I'm worried as it never seems to eat the bowl of dog food and it must be so bored stuck in a the same circle outside everyday. But I haven't met the family who lives at that house, and I don't want to overstep myself by bringing different food or just messing with their pet too much. It's just the sweetest thing~ I hope it will have a happy life full of love~

It doesn't actually look like this... but it's just as angelic. Maybe I'll update this post soon with REAL PICTURES OF ME WITH THIS ANGEL PUP!

Updated! This little one wouldn't stay still so it's not the best... But you can still tell how cute it is~~

Musing complete. Really let me know what you think please~ it means a lot to me. Scold me for not saving them. Console me for my fears. Judge me for my weird reasoning. Praise me for finally realizing dogs are evil (cough Morgan cough).
Please just remember to not judge this culture that is complex and full of a history very different from the one you may know.

Bye~~~~

Gabby, conflicted animal lover

The magic of small towns: An Ode to Hwacheon

Hi there~

It's been a while right? I suppose we've been lost in the flow of life. The new school year is well underway here and I have about 4 blog posts that are partially written... but I've just never sat down to keep writing and upload them (yet).

Most of those unfinished posts are about adventures I've had in the great big city, Seoul, but in the end I'm writing a post about my home in Korea, Hwacheon. When it comes to my blog, I like to upload fun stories from exciting experiences, but don't be fooled. Like my last post hopefully conveyed, there's some treasures in the countryside of Korea as well.

A post about my wonderful little wedge of Korea seems to unwind from my thoughts so much smoother as I type. This week has made me truly fall in love (again) with Hwacheon town and surrounding area.

I've been reading this book set in the highlands of Malaya and it is so gorgeously written, I keep overlapping its imagery with Hwacheon on my daydreaming bike-rides home after work. (Seriously read it! It's 'The Garden of Evening Mists' by Tan Twang Eun.)

My Hwacheon Elementary counterpart, Wei, lent me the book last month, which makes it that much dearer to me. 

Wei has had a rough last couple of weeks as an unexpected health complication arose. For the betterment of her health and the peace of her family's hearts, Wei has left Korea early to heal back home in America. She said her goodbyes to all her fifth grade students who flooded the English room at school on this past Wednesday. I'm going to miss her a lot but also am happy she's making a decision that's best for her health and wellness.

One thing is for certain, our school life has changed a lot with her departure. With the nature of the Fulbright program, there was no way for our school to have a replacement teacher until the next round of accepted grantees come to Korea (in August). Our old schedule had me teaching 3rd and 4th grade with my coteacher, Sunny twice a week, while Wei would've taught 5th and 6th grade with her new coteacher, Sungsil two/three times a week. As Wei would've had more class hours, I was put in charge of all the after school classes (7 a week). Now, to make things fair for all the students, I am spread among all the grades studying English, meeting them all once a week for official classes. And after school classes have stayed the same.

This was not only a big change for me to adjust to, but also for the English coteachers, who now teach by themselves for every class once a week as well (I can't be in two places as once as much as I wish I could). Sunny, my coteacher was particularly stressed about the students revolting without the "fun foreigner" teacher, but in the end she is realizing how much they love her too. It's not easy, but she's doing well.

I had my own stress dreams last weekend, and honestly, Monday of this past week was rough. I was preoccupied thinking about the schedule changes and didn't give my 3rd grade after-schoolers my full attention, which resulted in chaos. I teach after school classes by myself, and have been fine with small classes from 1-12 students the past year and a half. But the 3rd grade after school class this year has 30 students registered, and as 3rd graders have only just begun learning English, I use a lot of Korean to explain our activities. And my Korean is far from perfect, so it's easy to get frustrated and if my attention isn't focused, lose control.

So yes. Poor Gabby. Life is rough.

While I was busy self-obsessing and boo-hooing some magical force within Hwacheon persisted to snap me out of it. This week was so full of magic and wonder that by Tuesday there was nothing to stop my grins.

Monday, on my tearful bike ride home, I came across three of my 4th grade boys playing by one of the small rivers' dams. I waved and they immediately shouted for me to come down and see what they had discovered. Still in a daze from work, I scooted down the rocks that led to the riverbank, already smiling despite myself. These boys are some of the most troublesome in their grade, and this was the first time I've seen any students playing outside on my bike trail home.

They eagerly explained that what they had just found was something really dangerous, and if humans eat it they die, and how they barely caught it with old reeds and sticks. I could only follow so much of their rushed explanation, and I sure have no idea what that thing was, but it looked kind of like burnt shoelaces. One of the boys, Yongha, crushed it with a rock to the cheering of his companions.

Then the other boy remembered the fish they had caught. Soon they we recounting this capture story (they caught the fish with their hands!), and dragging me to see the fish they claimed were huge. It took us a while to find the right crevice in the rocks, and they were very disappointed to discover that one fish escaped while another had died, but they held up their last living prisoner proudly for me to admire. It was about the size of my middle finger.

As much as I wanted to sob in desperation about work, that encounter let me smirking and full of love for those little, funny demons.

Tuesday morning as I biked into town, I got mud splashed on my pants and almost ran into one of the dump trucks cleaning up the ice festival remains, so I negatively jumped to the conclusion that that day would end up just as awful as the previous day.

Full of nervous energy and frustration, I parked my bike and started trudging around the school to the teacher entrance. One of the 3rd grade boys who was in the failure after school class suddenly ran out a side door pointed to the sky and shouted to his friend. When no one came out after him, he quickly pulled in the closest person he could find, me. He shouted rainbow! and dragged me to his vantage point. Sure enough, right in the middle of the sky was a chunk of rainbow, pretty as can be.

Hwacheon magic was at it again. With that rainbow in mind, I went through my classes with a continually improving mood until I had the 4th and 6th grade after school classes. They were absolutely perfect. Feeling immensely relieved that maybe I'm not a terrible teacher and person, I met my friend Susan for our weekly workout after school, and grabbed some grub in town.

When I biked home the sky was almost dark, and the last ten minutes or so I was completely enraptured by the moon. Just a day before the full moon, it was fat and eerie, surrounded by clouds and the smokey pollution of farmers burning dead crops and trash. The sky around the moon glowed golden.

Hwacheon magic at it again.

Wednesday was comparably magic-free, but it was my first time teaching my first students (I didn't teach their grade for the last full school year) so that in itself was pretty magical. I heard old nick-names I thought they had forgotten (like short ribs teacher "galbi (갈비) Teacher") and felt really happy to see matching joy on their faces at our reunion. Though, the joy of seeing my old students again was made bittersweet as my counterparts Wei came (escorted by my even older counterpart Amelea) to say goodbye. Wei left safely and looked really good, so I'm just glad I had a chance to say goodbye.

Thursday work was great again, and I took a break about 2/3 of the ride to home. I relaxed, listening to the streams and watching the sun make its way down behind the mountains, and munched on snacks in this gazebo-like thing along the farmers bike trail. The sun lit every dead-looking bit of vegetation with golden halos that filled me with wonder.

Hwacheon magic at it again.

More detail on my Instagram! 

Finally the last day of this long work week came. The 3rd grade after school class was crazy as ever, but with my happy mood and full attention, we actually accomplished everything I had planned and ended the week successfully.
Now that the days are getting longer (and warmer) I went for a run along my old route from last year along the main river. The sun slowly set, and the sky was completely full of purple and pink colors peeking behind mountaintops. The rivers were fairly still so the reflection of the sky made them pastels blended with the deep blue and green shadows of the mountains. I also saw many little buds starting to make their way out again and now proclaim THE MAGIC OF SPRING IS ALMOST HERE~

My bike ride after the run was rough since my legs were already dead, but the rivers and sky retained their lavender hues, and I saw a new animal to add to my Hwacheon wildlife list! After reaching the top of a hill, right before biking down past the military ground part of my bike trail, I stopped to take a breath when a rustling made me jump. On a farm field below the trail a large furry animal bounded through the moundy rows, jumping so high I thought it was a kangaroo or jackalope (Shame on you! says my child-self who took stacks of animals books from the library every week and could recite any random fact about the randomest creature). When it finally stopped its retreat from the scary human, I could see its form better, though I still can't say for sure what it was, I guess it was a deer? If Korean deers have thicker coats and shorter legs than their American kin.

Photo credit for above.

Okay Googled it. What I saw was a water deer. Which have huge fangs you can see more of here. But I was not close enough to see any saber-teeth thank goodness.

My week was finally made perfect, with a magical cherry on top, when the last five minutes of my bike ride it started to sprinkle rain a bit. I love rain. I love Hwacheon.


To end I would like to show you the evolution of parts of Hwacheon the last two months (from ice festival to present)

First of we have nice thick ice for hundreds of people to safely walk on:

That started melting last month:

When suddenly we had a huge downpour of rain which made the rivers overflow, washing the ice up onto the sides as well:

The huge snow sculptures have yet to completely melt.

But they're getting there.

The random drain that exploded with water that froze a chuck of my bike trail

 

Well it's still melting, but the rain also dumped a ton of mud and random vegetables on that whole section. It was like quicksand I had to trudge through while walking my bike and trying not to lose my shoes.

Thankfully that has hardened and slowly dispersed.

And yeah, once again, SPRING IS ALMOST HERE. YAY (but say no to mosquitoes)

ANNYEONG

 갈비 티철이 돌아왔다~