I. L. Chang

Cherry blossoms

While everyone back home were posting pictures of cherry blossoms, I was only seeing small blooms in Seoul. Cherry blossom season is a popular time for tourists to come to Korea. However, this year, they were met with some obstacles and only lasted a week before the rain came and the petals fluttered off the branches like snow.

The views of the cherry blossoms in full bloom were incredibly pretty. Still, the ones back home were not inferior compared to the ones here. I was fortunate to grow up seeing big blush pink cherry blossoms right outside my front yard.

During the week when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, I traveled to different places to view them. I saw many tourists and locals taking pictures with friends and family under these trees. Alone, I walked past all the trees forgoing the opportunity to take a photo with it. I didn’t need one.

But.

A week later, I was exploring the city with a friend and we found ourselves in the plaza outside of Jeongdok library. Two trees stood in full bloom among the greenery and radiant spring flowers. It was as if they waited for me to come back with a friend to take this photo.

Ordering coffee

I practice ordering coffee in Korean many times. Yet when I get to the counter I freeze up and forget all forms of speech. There are machines to use, but I’m afraid if I change the language, the English instructions would be blaring, drawing attention to the foreigner.

I thought back to my colleagues and friends who came to Canada in their twenties with no family and friends. I saw them build a life here and struggle through the immigration process. They are more courageous than I am. They endured through all hardships, studied and worked hard to build a life in Canada. In contrast, my working holiday journey is temporary. I’ve lived abroad before. I’ve traveled lots. Even so, I’m whiny. When I’m faced with obstacles, I want to quit. I keep repeating, “I want to go home” over and over.

Mangwon Neighbourhood

I found a friend who had the same free time schedule – on a Thursday afternoon – as I did. We went to eat food at Mangwon Market and browsed through the vendors selling fish, different cuts of pork belly and beef, fresh vegetables, fruits, hanbok fabric, and various household items.

Afterwards, we headed to my current favourite Starbucks nearby a Hangang Park. We enjoyed an iced drink and cake with a beautiful sunny view and chatted about life in the Southern States compared to life in the Pacific Northwest.

The streets of this neighbourhood were quiet – empty of students at school and adults at work. We walked passed several izakayas and yakitori restaruants, local makers’ shops, and cafes.

On one of the streets, we came across a cozy bookstore. I was only expecting to casually browse because they were in a language I recognized the shapes of but not the meaning. However, upon entering, the store owner asked if she could recommend us any books. My friend accepted her invitation and she took out her small collection of literary works translated in English. I asked her to recommend some books suitable for a Korean language learner. She gave me a few titles to choose from.

In February, I came by the Mangwon neighbourhood to go to a writing session meet up group. But left not being able to find them and wandered around a street alone. I thought, how nice it would be if I could come back with a friend. I did, after two months.

The office

I was sitting at a coffee shop writing this post next to an office building. The lobby of the building looked like the ones back home. Swarms of office workers gathered intermittently waiting to go back up after an afternoon coffee break.

I suddenly missed the office life – the routine of waking up, taking the packed train, buzzing through the doors, setting up my desk, entering the password, chatting with colleagues, struggling through busy season, getting an afternoon pick-me-up, working over time, sometimes into the late hours of the night, sometimes not, feeling a sense of relief when all of it was over, and finally feeling accomplished for completing another busy season.

I was always grateful that busy season started during winter and ended at the beginning of spring. The short and cold days made it less lonely to work through the long hours. The temperature rose quietly in the background, while I was dazed from lack of sleep and repetition of work. Out of nowhere, the day started to get longer; I shed the winter jacket and a warm breeze invited cherry blossoms to bloom. The arrival of April meant the countdown to the end of the season were days, though the amount of work left felt like months. Regardless, there was a day that signified an end.

Spring would eventually arrive.

Maybe it’s not quite time to go home yet.