The Highlight of Spring in Korea: Cherry Blossoms

This year the cherry blossoms started blooming from the last week of March and lasted through the first week of April. Cherry blossom season is surprisingly brief, lasting only around two weeks…weather permitting. The slightest bit of wind or rain would induce, as my students called it, flower snow.

The first cherry blossoms I spotted were at my school. The building and field (erm, dirt lot) is actually surrounded by cherry blossom trees.

You don’t really need much more than pictures for this post.

   

During the weekend, when the cherry blossoms would be in full bloom, I originally planned to go to Jinhae, where there’s a cherry blossom festival. But everyone I talked to only repeated the same lines about how crowded it would be. Some even told me I shouldn’t go, but if I must, I should go super early to beat the crowds. Feeling in dire need of sleep that weekend, I never intended to go early. But I didn’t intend to wake up that late either. I was late, tired, and the friend who would’ve met me at Jinhae had to leave earlier than expected.

So instead I ended up at Oncheoncheon, a river and popular destination in Busan to view cherry blossoms. I started off at Dongnae station (both exit 2 and 4 work).

The station is surrounded by cherry blossom trees, but the first thing you encounter are bright yellow patches of 유채꽃, also known as rapeseed or canola flowers.

The stream is beautiful as well, lined with cherry blossoms and, on this day, the banks were overflowing with food tents and people enjoying one of the first warm days of spring. There were ducks, a very collected crane, and large fish which alternated between cruising and swimming laboriously upstream.

It was hard to get away from people, impossible even, but there were some fun characters in the crowd: adorable baby-grandma combos, confused toddlers, and amusing but obnoxious couples determined to get the perfect selfie. The bike path was just as busy, and you could frequently hear the light ding-ding of a bicycle bell signaling its approach.

Even after departing from the stream’s path, cherry blossoms filled the neighborhoods. They were just about as beautiful on the ground as they were on trees and in the air.

And I, after this peaceful excursion, entered a Starbucks to order myself a Cherry Blossom Cream Latte.

NaNoWriMo in Korea

Guess what?

I’m a winner!

No, really, here’s the certificate to prove it:

What is that, you ask? It’s to celebrate completing Nanowrimo!

For those who don’t know, NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and takes place every November. I vaguely remember hearing about it before, and thought it sounded cool, but I never really looked into it. But this year, some fellow ETAs were pretty excited and open about doing Nano (ahem, Dawn, Shannon), and well, the excitement caught up to me too.

My first thought was, is this really the time to try Nano? While I’m in Korea? Then I remembered someone incredulously telling me that the former ETA at their school had written a novel during their grant year. Ah, I see. So it’s been done.

Next came the excuses. I was in the middle of studying for the GRE! How could I write a novel at the same time? And November just happened to be the busiest month at school – all of my coworkers and even my students were telling me so. There were tons of school events being held, including the English Speech Contest, which I would help judge. Eventually though, my desire to try Nano won over the excuses, legitimate as they were. And, I thought, if I’m being realistic, I will always have plenty of perfectly legitimate excuses each November, whether I’m in Korea or not.

So I went forth.

I decided to build off of a short story I’d written for a Historical Fiction course in college. It was set during the Japanese occupation of Korea, focused on 1910 to 1919. When I was writing the short story, it was difficult to find many sources in English, but now that I was in Korea, it seemed ideal to continue this story as I’d have more access to relevant resources.

I won’t describe for you my laborious writing process, though it was ameliorated by support from fellow ETAs, Wrimos (slang for people working on Nanowrimo), the Busan write-ins, and resources provided through the Nanowrimo organization itself. Instead of more writing, here is my month with Nano in pictures. We’ll start by taking a tour of the many cute cafes I frequented, the obligatory food and drink pictures (I’ve become a master of this while in Korea), and maybe even get to some selfies.

 

Lemon tea at Bricks Coffee, currently my favorite coffee shop in Busan. The owner even recognizes me now. Because I’ve stayed there for hours at a time. But also more likely because I’m a foreigner.

 

Orange cranberry bread and an Americano at Cafe Claire. Which also happens to be a part of the Somin Art Center! The first day I went was also the last day of an amazing art exhibit in their gallery upstairs. Overall it’s a very nice space, with a patio, two galleries and stage for performances.

They also had their Christmas decorations up already.

 

Americano at Cafe Pascucci, a chain coffee shop. This was on a random Tuesday I had off in the middle of the week. It was so peaceful and for most of the time I was there, I had the entire second floor to myself.

 

Citron tea at Cafe Promise, a small family-run coffee shop near my school on Yeongdo.

 

In addition to coffees, I have to pay tribute to my best friend during this month: my lovely laptop. She was with me wherever I went…

…working long hours…

…even on the KTX with me.

We shared meals…

…and enjoyed coffee + panini breaks.

This experience has truly brought us closer together.

 

And of course, how could I write 50,000 words in a month without some interesting detours and sources of inspiration? Before I settled in for a writing session or after a good (not not so good) day’s work, I explored more of Busan.

 

This is Bosu Book Alley, which is a beautiful place to explore.

I even found some books in English for research!

 

These are some lucky finds in the English section of Kyobo Bookstore in Nampo. “When My Name Was Keoko” had a lot of similarities to what I was writing, which was both unfortunate, but also a sign that I was on the right track.

Of course there was art involved:

And I visited the Busan Design Expo with another Wrimo!

 

But my favorite art exhibit during the month was the artist being shown at Somin Art Center. The artist 허휘, or Hur Whie, as spelled on his business card, owns Mokwon Art Studio near Gukje Market. He has a couple blogs, but nothing compared to seeing his work in person. I bought two copies of his art book.

I think his work resonated with me so much because it’s the exactly the kind of artwork I’ve wanted to do of Busan. And after having visited most of the places he’s painted, the work is all the more meaningful. I’m sure it’s even more meaningful and nostalgic for long time residents of Busan. I especially liked how he captured Gamcheon cultural village and I wish I’d gotten more than this crooked image of it:

And that’s the end of my art tangent.

 

Although I completed Nanowrimo, I didn’t finish my novel (the story itself) and I don’t know if I will for a long while. No one will ever see this draft. There’s still tons of research I need to do to correct the tons of inevitable inaccuracies I’ve written. But in doing Nanowrimo, I got to exercise a part of my brain that has long felt dormant. I got to feel excited about something new. I got to feel a little sense of accomplishment every time I met my daily word count, and a much bigger sense of accomplishment when I finally completed Nanowrimo, sitting among other writers in Cafe Claire.

And it’s something I’d absolutely love to do again.

Until next year, Nanowrimo.