Yes, my school recycles but that’s not what I mean by green…as the weather continues to warm, I’m noticing plants growing all over the hallways and classrooms. It seems every fifth grade class is growing tomatoes…
hot peppers…
and morning glories!
What’s more, every single student has a plant that they are responsible for watering. They are on the windowsills in the hallway, outside every classroom. It’s pretty great. (My co-teacher said parents that don’t trust their kids to keep a plant alive get cacti, since they require minimal care!)
And here’s a picture of Leo, who was in the middle of a huge stretch when he noticed his toy on the pillow and then just chilled like that for a bit…haha look at those legs oh my gosh I love this cat…
Sarah: We returned to Gyeongju (the “open air museum”) on April 4th for the Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon. I found out about it months ago and 4 of us were going to run various distances (they offered 5k, 10k, half, and full marathon options!). Well, first Clarke and I missed the sign up deadline. Then Derek hurt his knees training for the marathon. Then, the night before the race, Owen came down with such a high fever that he went to the hospital. So Derek’s girlfriend ended up running, because she was going to tag along and hadn’t wanted to be the only one running…but she ended up being the only runner!
Clarke: Also leading up to the event, my coteacher made it clear that if the cherry blossoms were not blooming when we were going to go, we should just cancel the trip. It looked like it was going to be a close thing, but then he looked at the cherry blossom map the day before we went and declared that we had perfect timing.
We met up in Gyeongju on Friday night (took the train after work) and got some great barbecue at a place called “Pork Hunter.” Yeah.
Yes that is a cooking banana…
It was potentially going to be rainy all weekend but it cleared up Saturday and the race and cherry blossom festival had beautiful weather.
Clarke: The race itself was pretty crazy, because the distances being run were marathon, half marathon, 10k and 5k, in that order. Each distance had a pen, and the announcer would start each one with as much gusto as the last. Before the race they also released roughly a million balloons, with all of us bemoaning the sea turtle deaths that would invariably result. Things were a little confusing at the start, and Geniey ended up running with the marathoners! She finished about 2 minutes after the rest of the 5k people started. Officially, she won. Every time a race started there would be a ton of confetti released, and by the end there was a ton of confetti on the road.
Derek and Geniey
After the race, we ventured over to the festival, where the cherry trees lined a river by the road and there were tons of tents with food and goodies.
Clarke: The blossoms looked wonderful, and after taking many pictures, we headed to the traditional Korean restaurant that we went to last time. Since we have gone there, this place has become Sarah’s favorite eatery in Korea. Unfortunately, the wait was too long for some people (me), so we were forced to go to a less desirable location. However, there is a plan. In some of the last days that Sarah is here, we are going to make a third trip back to Gyeongju to have one last meal at the place before we leave. It goes without saying that it doesn’t matter how long the wait is that time. All in all it was a great time!
As I walked to work in the rain yesterday I was amazed to see how many flowers had popped up, seemingly overnight! Here are all the blossoms saw on my “commute:”
Daejeon Days 
