early morning enthusiasm

i'm writing from the samsung factory in gumi, during my 7 hour break between classes. the sunlight is streaming in the window as i eat a bowl of organic strawberries with my chopsticks and sip lemon verbena iced tea. i've learned to bring my own snacks to gumi as the cafeteria here leaves me feeling a little unsettled more often than not.

the sky is unusually blue, the air unusually fresh. it's one of those rare, pristine days in korea, the spring perfume of lilacs in the air.

this morning i took the train to gumi, as the professor i normally carpool with cancelled his classes this week. i passed out hard during the 7am, 50-minute train ride, but luckily set my cell phone alarm to wake me upon arrival to gumi, otherwise i surely would have ended up in seoul. i caught a cab at the train station, and to my good fortune happened upon the most out-of-this-world, hilarious driver. first of all, he had some hard core rap music playing "from the dirty, dirty south." (quote from one of the songs) he was wearing enormous, brown-tinted sunglasses with gold rims and his hair smoothly slicked back, totally gettin' down to the music! singing, tapping his hands all over the steering wheel and wiggling around like crazy in his seat! did i mention that he looked to be in his 70's or 80's? yes...he was an elderly gentleman who had an astounding amount of vitality and spice for life! i found myself unable to stop smiling...refreshed by his uniqueness, his flamboyance, and his enthusiasm so very early in the morning! by the time we made it to samsung, he had changed the station to a traditional korean song that i've heard a million times and was singing as if his life depended on it!

thought for the day:
"look at you, you madman, screaming you are thirsty and are dying in a desert when all around you there is nothing but water!"

-- kabir