Happy Spring Everybody! Spring is definitely my favorite season. It has the best aspects of all the other times of the year. It's cool at night, warm during the day. A little rain, a little snow, a little sunshine. Basically it's just nice to be able to walk around and not freeze my butt off.

I received an e-mail from my good friend Steph asking if I was having a good time in this country. I haven't said anything outright about this place, whether it's good or bad. It's kind of like when you first start seeing someone and you're scared to admit how much you really like them. You're afraid if things fall apart then you'll be hurt, but eventually you burst forth and proclaim, "I love you so much!" This generally happens while drunk. I have a little bit of soju in me right now and I've been seeing Seoul for about a month and a half so it seems the time is right to proclaim my love. Yes, I love Seoul.

What do I like about Seoul? Oh, there's a few things. I'm going to gush like that love-stricken friend you hate to be around that can only talk about the cute things their beloved does.

1. Seoul has lots of bathrooms. At first you may be puzzled by this comment. "Great it has a lot of bathrooms. Big deal." I've found that international travel is usually a practice in bladder control. In Seoul, you can walk into any major building and use the bathroom, and they're clean. In America we tend to desecrate our public facilities, but here they receive constant maintenance and respect. I should write an advertising campaign for Korea: Korea! You'll love our bathrooms! Seoul, I love the way you take care of yourself.

2. Seoul has an amazing transportation system. I routinely wander into the city and get lost, but I can always find a bus to transport me out of my lost situation to a place that I'm familiar with. Seoul, I love how independent and convenient you are.

3. Guns are illegal in Seoul. Crime rates are super low, especially for a big city. In fact the most dangerous area in Seoul is Itaewon. This is where the foreigners hang out. I'm not sure if it was initially a dangerous place and the foreigners are attracted to that danger, or if it's a dangerous place because the foreigners are there. Probably a little of both. Seoul, I love your peaceful ways.

4. The people are very polite here. I routinely get myself into compromising situations because of my lack of Korean language skill, but generally people go out of their way to help me and to make sure that everything's all right. Coming from the states where it seemed like every other person I ran into was an asshole, this is a nice change of pace. Seoul, I love how polite and thoughtful you can be.

5. I love the food here. Most food is relatively healthy- pretty much no grease with lots of vegetables, and it's spicy. Seoul I love how vibrant and hot you can be.

6. Things are relatively cheap here. Also taxes are very low and my housing is paid for. Seoul I love how we don't have to spend a lot of money to have a good time.

7. There are tons of hiking trails here and placed along many of the trails is exercise equipment: pullup bars; incline benches; bench presses and industrial strength, oversized hulla hoops. For some reason hulla hoops are a standard piece of equipment for physical fitness in Korea. Hulla hoops aside, staying healthy is a national priority here. Seoul, I love how you take care of yourself.

8. Seoul is land of the miniskirt. Nothing else I need to say there.

There, that was sickening. Even as I love this place though, I can see signs of complications down the road- those little things you notice at the beginning of a relationship that you choose to ignore thinking that they'll go away, but ultimately end up tearing the relationship apart. A few of these are:

1. Seoul, could you please do something about the traffic? Many suburbanites spend four hours a day in their cars commuting to and from work. Everyone drives here and they drive like absolute hell. Seoul's driving can be summed up with this simple phrase: Go like hell, slam on the breaks. Since traffic is bumper-to-bumper there's a lot of slamming on the brakes. The Koreans here have the magical ability to sleep on the bus. I find it impossible because the acceleration throws me back in my seat and the rapid deceleration throws me into the seat in front of me. Seoul, you could learn to slow down and take it easy. You don't have to rush all the time.

2. The pollution here is nasty. Many people wear face masks when they walk around town, and I'm beginning to think this is not such a bad idea. Some days aren't so bad and other days I'm scared to go outside. Seoul, could you please do something about your hygiene? I know you can be pretty but sometimes you just don't put enough concern into your appearance.

3. People walk like hell here. Actually, their walking and driving habits parallel each other. I had heard about the peculiar pedestrian habits of Koreans, but it really has to be experienced to be believed. Routinely, when walking to school, I'll be the only person on the sidewalk and a Korean pedestrian will be walking towards me. I'll move to far right so they can pass on the left but Korean will bear down at come straight at me. They're like Kamikazes. Bumping into people here is routine, and I can understand that on a crowded sidewalk, but on an empty one it's just baffling. Seoul, could you please watch where you're going?

4. In Korea the appearance of quality is enough. Things routinely fall apart here and nothing is built to last. The apartment complex that I live in is less than ten years old and everything is falling apart. It's not as though I live in the ghetto, but there's always something breaking, falling down, flooding, etc. and the repair man never comes when he says he will. Seoul, could you put a little more effort into committing to a project? Take some pride in your work.

I'm sure there's more to say, but it feels as though I've said way too much already. Upon looking at that post I can't but feel that I need a girlfriend.

On a completely different note, my students taught me how to say throw-up in Korean. It's "Oh Bite". I guess there was some Oh Bite on the boy's bathroom floor and they felt the need to inform me of this. The thing that I find puzzling is not the Oh Bite necessarily, but the fact that they told me this word once and it totally stuck. I look over my Korean flashcards every day, but many phrases leave my mind without a trace that they were ever there. I'll be damned if I can remember how to say, "Pleased to meet you," but I just have to hear Oh Bite once and my rusty, steel-trap of a brain locks on to it. The scary thing is, it's phrases like these I'll never forget. I'm sure when the kids teach me the sentence, "Oops, I crapped my pants," that I'll latch onto that too. In Spanish I could always pick out the swear words. I wouldn't understand anything else sometimes except the swear words. This is not something I train myself for, nor am I proud of this ability. It's just a mystery and a source of puzzlement. I guess we all have our talents and gifts.