Yesterday, April 20th, I went to Korean lessons, went out to lunch with a coworker and her grandson (1st grade! and his English is impressive! warms my heart. :D ), then met up with Jongsoo to get our hair cut. It's a long story I'll tell later. Today I cleaned and went out with my friend Tian and her friends YK and Thomas (korean guys). They're cool.
So, last weekend - Beokkot - cherry blossoms. During the afternoon out with Jongsoo's mother and aunt, he and I headed over to a section of Seoul called Yeouido (yo-ee-doh) which has a pretty big cherry blossom festival. It was still a bit early for the blossoms, however, it was still beautiful. The weather was nice as well, about 70, partly sunny. We ended up in the IFC Mall, and I got a free drink for liking their mall's facebook page in person right there. Pretty sweet.
We headed out to a park nearby for the blossoms and found Sejong the Great reading.
Then on to the trees.
It turns out Korea has plenty of pretty blossoms in the spring. They have forsythia, and wild azalea, magnolia and even apricot blossoms. The 4th grade teacher taught me the words for these.
This is how you enjoy blossoms - you pack a picnic type deal (blanket, snacks, hot or cold drinks) and go sit out and enjoy the beauty of spring with friends or family.
Of course, while you're there, why not try the "walk of pain"? There's this circle track of rocks, bumps, and otherwise unpleasant things to walk upon - which you're to walk on without shoes. It's supposedly good for your health? Like the bumps "massage" your feet and increase blood flow and things. Ha. Hahaha. It's really just made for masochists, drunks and insane people. I walked on the part with the smooth river rocks, but I did not do the full circuit. Jongsoo did though, while gritting his teeth and saying something about being a man. As a female, I don't get it. I really don't.
There were many people out enjoying the blossoms.
I liked this guy's hair. It's still amazing to me how well Koreans dress, and the extent to which they go to be fashionable. Guys spend a lot of money on their face and hair. It's a completely different feel from American men. In America we had to call them "metrosexual" and people mistake their girly habits as sexually abhorrent. Here, it's normal for a man to use expensive face lotion and bb cream and do their hair. They are all pretty sharply dressed too. (but i will say, hair like the above does get some flack. it's more bad boy style, and more silly even to Koreans)
At last some actual cherry blossoms!
Strangely enough, juxtaposed to these trees were sky scrapers and offical governmental type looking buildings.
It was an interesting thing to see.
Jongsoo being silly. Fun picture, right? ^_^
Everything was quite picturesque. I kept thinking about the British literature course I took in college and our discussions on picturesque versus sublime, and why that mattered. I couldn't help but wonder what exactly is sublime to the Korean aesthetic. I understand the Chinese and Japanese ideals on it, but I am still a stranger to the Korean version. In many areas, they overlap, but it's never safe to assume that something does. It's better to quietly observe and find it out for yourself. However, this is one question that requires further observation and more careful reflection.
I'm tired. LOL. Hardly new to you, right? I've got school in the morning, so annyeong!
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