The weather around here has just begun to get spectacular and today I took the camera out for a spin. Tomorrow is “Plant a Tree” Day in Daejon and I will be dragging the camera, and presumably the shovel, out for that one as well.

This time of year the plants bloom astonishingly fast and some of them also wither back away astonishingly fast. I wanted to take pictures of the bizarre tree that grew one set of flowers that looked like cherry blossoms and then another set of enormous flowers that looked like iris’ or something. Alas, when I got to those trees today, they had shed all of their blossoms and looked entirely quotidian. Maybe the will bloom again this spring, or even in the fall, after the rains have drenched the place.

Even without the schizo tree, I poked around campus a bit and too some pictures of the awesome reddish-purple flowers that are everywhere and some of the dark-read trees that are similarly omnipresent. There are also some pink flowers, and some green trees.

As you can tell by my descriptions, I am still a few units short of the old horticultural degree. It got up to about 27 degrees, so there were moments when I wished for a delicious icy beer, but as I am in Korea there is no such thing as a “delicious” beer (well, maybe in a bar somewhere in Seoul).

Then it was into the bat-office (where I snapped the lovely photo of my office that you see here) and the futile wait for Martin, The Scottish Reprobate (TSR). He didn’t show up by about quarter after noon and since I hadn’t eaten, I headed up to the restaurant that serves US food. Had a delicious grilled chicken sammich and some real coffee (black, as testosterone demands it) while I waited for TSR. He never showed there either, so with about 15 minutes before class, I headed up to the BPUni. I snapped photos along the way and spotted a gaggle of my students hanging out in front of the main building. Of course a couple of girls had to pose, and of course they had to flash peace signs. Peace signs and shouted “hello”s are, as we say around here, ubiquitous. We chatted amiably, and with almost complete shared incomprehension, for a bit and then I headed up and found that TSR was also not in his classroom yet. Headed back out and saw him, unshaven, struggling up the 103 steps we have to surmount to get to our building. He was sweating and untidy and said, “I was in my flat, hanging around in my underwear, and I realized it had become 12:30.” I noted that I had wrecked that particular car myself, and went in to the classroom to do the midterms. Had a couple of struggling students today, but nothing horrible. As soon as the test was done the kids wanted their results, so I let them have a quick look. No one seemed upset.

My best student (his lowest mark was a 4.75 out of 5) wanted to know what he had missed. We talked about articles and prepositions (the conversation was much snappier than that sounds) and I asked him why he was in the Japanese Studies program. He said he wanted to be a bartender and you’d better work in a bar that serves Americans and Japanese if you are going to be one. I wondered if he was referring to tips, but didn’t ask. He’s a keen student of language, and I also wondered why he “just” wanted to be a bartender, but, hey, not my business and a bit judgmental as well. Not to mention how stupid it would have been for me to persuade an apt lad to desert the one job that has done me the most service over the last 30 years! One of my other students, also an excellent speaker, says his “dream is to be a policeman.” Considering the low esteem in which cops are held in Korea, I also wonder about that. This is the same kid who ran in the water-race and I get the sense he is one of the most popular kids in the class; Something like the class captain, but I don’t know if Japanese Studies formally assigns them. I also have a woman who wants to be a tour guide, and another who wants to be a stewardess. Anyway, with the pressure off after the midterm, some of the JS students posed for me in the hallway outside the class.

Then, it was back outside to snap some lovely pictures that I stitched into a panorama. Watched some kids play soccer-volleyball for a while and then headed back to my office. On the way down I saw this semi-alarming sight – two doughty Korean lads walking down the street with what were, to all appearances, riifles. That has to be wrong, since I think Korea has pretty strong gun controls (Next step socialized medicine and mandatory abortions of non-homosexual fetuses!). I escaped the little assassins and came down to my office, where I sit typing this. On the way I saw the machine that spins all the wires in the sky. Something about appeasing the the "sky-gods" who bring death from above. I dunno, it makes no sense to me, but little does.

I’m waiting for TSR to show, but he might well head back to his pad for a shower. Also missed the OAF twice on IM today, so watching to see if she pops back up. She had an alarming story of cockroaches that I would like to hear more of.

This afternoon should be a bit more photography and then the inevitable cool slide into Sojuiced oblivion. I did run for 31 minutes today and that’s the kind of middling achievement that always seems to give me license to do evil things to my liver. I am busy preparing a list of of demands requests for a care package and high on that list will be something like diet powdered Hi-C. There are no diet drinks other than Coke Zero (even at the Costco) and while I do like juice, I don’t want to drink four bottles of it a day.

The OAF did arrive online and it looks like she will land in Korea in three weeks or so. I forgot to follow up the cockroach story L but will take another shot at it tomorrow morning. The sun is setting, in the Land of the Morning Calm, so I am off to Martin’s pad to try his chili and meet a man named Steven King.
(Cue eerie music….)

And that thing at the bottom is the worst stitched together panorama of Daejon, EVAR!