Day: April 24, 2011

Caveat: Countdown, 24 Hours

Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / My Photos

Today is my last teaching day here at Hongnong.  The feeling is bittersweet.  I hope I've made the right choice, in deciding to move on – one always has those moments of second-guessing oneself.

I was originally planning to jump on a bus tonight, but because some of my coworkers wanted to take me out to dinner tonight, I have decided I'll be leaving tomorrow morning.  So the countdown to leave Hongnong is 24 hours.  I will be back at least once, to fetch the rest of my stuff – I'm only taking what I can carry on the bus, tomorrow – I'll have to fetch my boxes of books and kitchen stuff (meanwhile stored with a friend here in Hongnong) with a car (maybe a friend's, or worst case, rental) over some weekend in the near future.

A view of the alley on which my apartment building (owned by the school) is located.  My student Seon-yeong actually lives in the farmhouse on the right – it's one of the old-style courtyard farmhouses.

[broken link! FIXME] Gwangju 002

Caveat: Lotus Flower, Paper Boat

Background Noise / Banalities & Journaling / Life in Korea / My Photos / 한국말을 배움 (Failing to Learn Korean)

[broken link! FIXME] Gwangju 007

No, nothing Buddhist.  I'm packing.  I'm listening to Minnesota Public Radio's "The Current" (dumb name, great programming).  Radiohead's "Lotus Flower" comes on.  Nice track.

So.  Where did I get all this crap?  Wait… don't answer that.  I'm packing.

I went to Gwangju for a few hours, today.  It was stupid – I needed to get some cash, and my bank has no local branch in Yeonggwang County.  So I used it as an excuse to say "goodbye" to the City of Light, and procrastinate on some packing.

Inside the Gwangju subway, they post poetry.   At the 송정공원 station, I saw this poem (right).

I had brief feeling of linguistic victory, as I managed to parse the first two lines of the poem without having to resort to a dictionary.  The poem's title is "Paper Boat."  I think that's what it's about.  The narrator launches a paper boat into a stream from a bridge.  Etc.

The Gwangju subway is desolate and not very useful.  It only has one line.  Mostly old people ride it.  Here is the context of the poem I saw on the wall – note – there's no one in the subway on a Sunday morning.

[broken link! FIXME] Gwangju 008

When I was leaving my home (well, my apartment, and only for two more days!) earlier, I walked past the school's playground, and took a picture of some springy trees.

[broken link! FIXME] Gwangju 004

What I'm listening to right now.

Radiohead – Lotus Flower

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