As winter keeps its watchful eye on the toes snow steppers, I am committed to the outdoor life. Braving the open skies for a weekend in Busan has never left me unsatisfied.
During the vacation period when the classrooms go silent for a few months, the intensive camps begin. Full of activity and English immersion, students are questioned and divided into levels. Teachers are then able to appropriately place students based on their English comprehension and speaking abilities. I had scored a quick job on the other side of the country for a day doing just this type of level testing. The school responsible flew Qasim and I out for the weekend. This was the first and most likely the last in-country flight I would take to the metropolis of the south, Busan, where the weather always tends to be a little warmer.
On Saturday night, we attended an art show at a local studio. Creepy like salad fingers, huge wrinkled heads were painted all over the room. The little creatures drawn so meticulously were cute in their own ugly way. In fact, I got a real sense of childhood nostalgia looking at the awkward fellas. The artist, Laura Heather Hobson, has quite the impressive resume! http://ldoubleh.blogspot.com/
That evening, we let our creative juices flow through our hands to the pen then to the Exacto knife and made stencils to print silk-screened t-shirts of our own designs. My creation was a snail and his trail as a quote I have so aptly identified with recently reminds me to take a little more time and pay attention to the everyday. Which is what more of us should do on a regular basis. (If you look closely, you'll see the blue guy on my purple sweater)
"Like slow snails, we soak up the details".
On Sunday morning, our good friend Robin and his local posse showed us a recently developed crag uphill on a mountain side overlooking swathes of apartment buildings in the rolling valley below. Some nice lines with impressively sticky limestone tickled our chilly fingertips all day long. Even in winter, the rock cannot hide from our slight obsession. It was a great day with great friends. How lucky are we to bask in something so simple yet so wondrous?
