It’s been almost a week since I
arrived in Seoul and I feel stingy with every minute passing by. There is so
much I want to do- so much of the city I want to soak up. I feel this way every
time I come here; yet this time around I’m smitten not by the endless shopping
there’s to do or by the thought of seeing relatives but with the (surprisingly pleasant)
Seoul Summer.
The last summer I spent in Seoul was
in 1995- the most memorable summer of my entire life…
Running around in flowery
dresses catching dragonflies...
Eating an exaggerated amount of red freeze pops...
Biting into a thermometer
and almost swallowing mercury...
Playing hard and dirty with used coal briquettes and having my cousin take all the blame, because he's the boy and the one known to be michievous while I'm thought as the dumb and quiet girly girl...
Laughing,
Oh there was so much laughter back then.
It’s such a treat when a place
exceeds your expectations in the most unexpected way. See, I imagined the heat
to be unbearable and the air quality to be throat-tickling yet it’s just the
way summer’s supposed to be, so I have very much enjoyed
absorbing the Seoul
sun,
sniffing the night air and the whiffs of pine and gingko,
spotting
butterflies and fruit in trees,
collecting trickling water from a mountain
spring and gulping it down as if there is no tomorrow…
I write this very entry as a self-indulging
stretch -a tidbit- after checking off my to-do-list of tedious work-related
activities, as I sit in a wooden chair that matches the burnt sienna colour that's tinted the already fading leaves.
It's strange how coming from a city where it's summerish 3/4 of a year,I feel this setting Seoul Summer to be my definition of summer,
Already swelling up with nostalgia,
Already missing the moments I'll spend strolling down Han river and exploring hiking trails of Bukhansan.
Wishing you sunlight and colourful panoramas.
Yours Truly,
