A few of my favorite things

I wanted to balance out my most recent posting with some of the small, unexpected joys I have had in Korea. So along with raindrops on roses...

1. the most delicious soy milk (thick, creamy, flavorful) and the best breakfast cereal I have ever tasted (not too sweet, whole grain, delicious)
2. walking to school by a shortcut across the athletic fields and punting lost balls back to soccer players in my little pink sandals
3. squid and octopus cooked in a variety of delicious ways
4. an endless supply of fantastic, adorable stationery
5. being told frequently by Koreans I meet that I am very beautiful (never hurts!)
6. cosmos growing along the bank of that same athletic field, covered in dew from the fine mist
7. a nighttime college festival, with outdoor tents and lights and enthusiastic underclassmen selling me their own homemade "kimchi pizza--no cheese" (oddly delicious, at least for the first few bites)
8. drinking from a cold mountain spring
9. running into two Chinese girls and a Russian on campus and spontaneously going out to dinner together
10. Watching swarms of kids ride little yellow rented bikes and trikes around in the public park
11. Discovering a new game that is a hybrid of soccer and volleyball, where you kick and head the ball back and forth over a tennis-height net
12. Listening to my TOTALLY FANTASTIC advanced students have an impassioned, intelligent debate about bribing teachers in public schools (Did I mention that I have great students?)
    
13. The Korean alphabet and the phonology of the Korean language. What a delight to learn.

Well I think 13 is a good start, don't you?
I could go on and on. I guess there's a lot that I love about this place after all.