Cherry Blossom Festival

The cherry blossoms blossom for only about two weeks every year. On Easter Sunday, I saw them in the first week of blossoming. The place: Jin Hae, a city further south than any in which I've set foot while in Korea, on the southern coast. The Korea naval academy exists there, first built as a Japanese naval base during their period of occupation in the 20th century.
Actually, the cherry blossoms were originally brought from Japan. The Koreans decided to keep the cherry blossoms, however, rather than boot them out along with the Japanese.
I wouldn't have been able to see any of this without Nathan. We hung out in the Rockies of Colorado during the summer of 2004. I took the high-speed train to see him down in beautiful Daegu, where the next day we took a bus to see the pretty flowers on the trees down south. I had a scare that night, as I checked on the internet the availability for high-speed train tickets back north to Seoul. It was approaching 7pm, and 70 of the next available tickets were for 9:45pm. Ten minutes later, the internet told me 60 tickets remained. Nathan took me to the main road, where I bid him farewell from the back seat of a cab.
The train station high-speed KTX train ticket booths were closed. I got in line for the general train ticket service and anticipated possibly arriving home after 3am. "KTX, Seoul yuck (station)" I told the ticket clerk. "Gate 7, thirty minutes" she replied.
I arrived at my apartment just after 11pm, having finished my homework on the train (while a curious Korean highschooler made no bones about watching me from the seat to my left). I would get my eight hours of sleep, ready to tackle the next day at work. Lucky that night. Another time may come.