Is it Spring Yet? (not, "are we there yet," but almost)

It's the middle of April and last week I had to wear my winter coat because it was in the 30s and windy...brrr.  I'm ready for warmer weather.  It's been in the 70s at home and I'm so jealous.  So, today was in the mid-50s, and I went out for a hike near my homestay.  There is a small "mountain" (san) here and I went to the top.  But, yesterday, I got some new shoes, and the short socks I was wearing today didn't stay up while I was walking, so I got a big blister on my heel (waah waah).  Anyway, here's a picture of my cute new shoes, and the view from the top of the san du jour (there's probably something very wrong about combining Korean with French).

At the top there were several small areas where there was exercise equipment, yes on top of the mountain.  There was even one area that had a clock (in a plastic bag) and a mirror.  I've seen many park areas that have these setups, it's very unusual for the US, but apparently quite normal for Korea.  There were also these totem poles at the top.  I always associated totem poles with American Indians, but it appears that many different cultures have them, and mostly for the same reasons, to drive away evil spirits.  I just think they're cute. 

After my short trek, I stopped for a cappuccino and a strawberry pastry the the "backerie."  The strawberries here are really delicious, with a lot of flavor.  Angela said they are mostly grown in green houses, but are very flavorful, nonetheless.  The restaurants always give you a small pitcher of not cream, but liquid sugar.  I have not seen Equal or artificial sweetener anywhere.  Then, there are all the other interesting pastries like pastries with broccoli, pastries with hot dogs, pastries with all sorts of strange ingredients. 

Tomorrow beings a new week of classes and challenges.  I'm doing my best to teach English to non-English speakers.  It's definitely not as easy as you think it might be.  And squirmy, short attention-span, non-English speakers, to boot. 

I got to meet Angela and Matthias' son this evening.  He is a resident in training to be a dermatologist and very pleasant.  I think he's 32.  He and his wife stayed for dinner.  Peter (his Christian name) lived in Canada for one year and speaks pretty good English, so we had a nice conversation.  His wife, Anna, is very shy and doesn't like to try her English, but she does understand some of what I say and ask. 

I am learning new Korean words each day.  Today I was able finally get the question "How much."  It's ol ma yeyo  or olmasumnika (more polite).  Also learned nori = song, like a children's song.  and nor e (pronounced nor aye), as in norebang (karaoke...very popular in Korea).  Korean is getting easier for me to learn...the sounds aren't so foreign to me anymore.  It's still a really hard language for me to grasp though. 

I will continue to report my progress.  Have a good week, folks.