Spring is Here!

 

"...This time it was a subtle promise, a tantalizing hint of beauty still withheld, a beckoning to her spirit to follow she knew not where."
 from "The Witch of Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare




 This past weekend was a weekend of joy. It isn't just that there are always new things to do in Seoul and if you let yourself, new things to experience and people to meet. I had a blast just going with the flow, staying up til the wee sma's, and dancing until I was like the dancing princess and my shoes (but not my spirit) were worn out.
  It is that Korea has been transformed. Winter was a brown shade, a bare, sere outline of life. Winter was a private person; a bating of breath; the world tucked away sleeping. I hated the winter, not understanding the miracle that is spring. Winter was a mischievous lover withholding a kiss.
  Now the spring is here, and she's a different being altogether: a young woman budding into graceful womanhood, but without fear. She's exuberant and thrilling, showy and not afraid, knowing that her beauty is a pleasure to behold. She wears a gown of ever-changing colors, and her face is the face of every beautiful woman you've ever met.
  Spring is a whirlwind romance. I've fallen in love with his changeable moods, each one as fascinating as the last. At every hour, there are new shadows and shades on his face, and I love the curves and edges that they create. Spring is mysterious and coy; it's a paean, a zoetrope, a kaleidoscope!
  Spring is the intrigue every young girl should have-- spontaneous, effervescent, short-lived--as it leads you into an understanding of something more mature and sustaining, a summer season of greater warmth and stability, slow and languid in its courtship. Spring is a fresh antidote, a cool green drink on your lips.
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Never in my life as in these last six months have I understood how much I love the sunshine, and how much my mood depends on it. On a funny note, the Korean teachers I work with blame my mood shifts, not on the weather, but on my status as a single. Lately, the answer to any statement is "I think you need a boyfriend.
"Teacher, I'm tired."
"I think you are not tired, I think you need a boyfriend. A boyfriend will help you not to feel tired."

"Today is such a lovely day-- I love being alive today, because it's so pretty!"
"Oh, is it because you have a new boyfriend? Who is he?!"

Sometimes I think I've spent my whole life listening to the virtues of boyfriends.