#5: Taken With Beauty

This week, Gilbert Blythe of Anne of Green Gables died.  

I saw numerous Facebook posts about this same subject, and I realized he had not only been my youth's love interest.  I also realized that it was the actor who died, and not the character.  And that I could continue to fantasize about what it must be like to have someone fall hopelessly in love with you in your youth and carry that through your life.  That, perhaps, is the sadder truth.

Us ladies all watched Green Gables because it quitessentially represented all of our most important values.  

But most important of all was the need for home.  

In Avonlea, Anne sees a grove of cherry blossoms upon her arrival and is taken with its beauty.  This week is a testament to being swept off my feet, not by a man, but by Korean beauty itself.  

Being overwhelmed by it, even.   

The Royal Azalea Hill in Gunpo was a stunning surprise.  I was going on a hike to what I thought was the peak of Mount Suri.  

This man thought he was going on a hike too.  

In Korea, form is of essence.  

That means that some are dressed for Everest even though they may just be going up a 5-minute hill.  This means hat, visor, sunglasses, and clothing covering every part of the body in 80-degree weather.  I have yet to figure out whether my short sleeves were scandolous or just presenting mosquitoes with a human arm buffet.

Here is an avid hiker.  Notice he is not on the mountain yet but walks as if he is.

This is a photo of my favorite blossom.  

She is in the middle of the two smaller fields of azaleas.  

It is so wonderful to see a flower growing out of the road, and so tall too.  

She almost looks human.

Keep going in the wrong direction, Sabina-Squid-Bulgogi-with-Rice-Monster-And Egg Teacher.  The nickname is growing because this week the cook made me an egg because I cannot eat gluten.  The egg was in the dumpling compartment of the lunchbox, so the children decided that my name needed amending.  It was a huge deal.  My entrance into the classroom was met with silence.  

An egg had appeared.

I am becoming more teacher-like in this name amending.  Below is what I looked like heading to a parent-teacher dinner.  

The glasses make the mafioso outfit.

I became Doctor Sabina Teacher by the end of the week.  We had our Hospital Event Day with the jaded elementary school kids, which meant that I wore a doctor's jacket and had to examine the children for illness.

Below is our medical chart, which was distributed to each child and which I had to fill out.

I determined that the less behaved kids had more cavities than those who listened in my classes.  We will see whether my diagnoses were correct in the future.

Next week, "General Hospital" is being administered with the kindergarten children.  You can eagerly await next week's photography with video.

For hump day, the other American teacher and I decided to take a trip to the world's largest Ikea.  It occupies 640,000 sq. ft.

My goal was to buy a French press for all of my excessive coffee-drinking needs.  I was excited and took a photo of myself in front of the building, after which I applied another face mask (this time "Placenta") in the evening.

After a satisfying meal of lox and meatballs, we went to find the French press. Tired of hunting around, we asked a store employee.  She told us that they do not sell some cooking products in Ikea because the Korean government needs to screen them and they are not approved.

Also, we found that the prices were much higher.  

After doing some research, I found out that Ikea had ruffled feathers with South Korea.  Also, they had initially labelled the body of water east of Korea the "Sea of Japan" instead of the "East Sea" on a decorative map when they first opened in December 2014.  

This was an insult to Korean culture and the problem was amended.

There are some photos of beautiful places that make me think "these are just beautiful photos."  But this is actually what Korea looks like when it blooms in the spring.  

I wear sunglasses because it makes the crisp beauty more palpable.  And then I can digest it more slowly and enjoy it more.

This week, in all my early-childhood romanticism, I am perceiving the cultural differences more.  

I still care for Gilbert Blythe.

Which means that my retinas burn for the beauty in front of me.

Lesson of the Week:  Figure out where your sunglasses are.  You might need to see the world through something.

Yours here in beauty,

Sabina, Etc.