꽃샘추위

The first official day of Spring was over a week ago now, back on March 20th, but you wouldn't know it on a typical weekday in Seoul. I say weekday, because at least the last two weekends have been nice, relatively speaking, with temperatures pleasantly in the fifties.

However, my morning stroll to work has been in frigid air throughout March, at or near freezing. Though I do not wish to hasten summer, with its stupefying heat and oppressive humidity, I would like to experience some vestige of spring.

There is a Korean expression, 꽃샘추위 ggot saem chu ui, which means winter is jealous of the spring flowers. To which I say, What @#$%! spring flowers?

Seriously, I've been carrying a camera around for weeks, hoping to snap the first blooms of spring, but there are hardly even any buds yet! Cf. this post from March 25, 2009.

Okay, so you might argue that spring's true harbinger is the first pitch of baseball season. Though we've had the warm-up games, the real deal is this Saturday, April 2nd, 2 PM at Jamsil stadium. And I'll be there.

Assuming the weather is nice.