May is almost over. It started off wearing a light sweater, then long-sleeved cotton shirts with the sleeves rolled up, and is now debating the merits of t-shirts after 10pm. This is a wonderful, logical progression. Unlike, say, last month where one day would be quite warm and the next bolt cold. The flowers have flowered, the allergies have allergied, and now the sky is blue and swaths of ginko shade moire across the streets.

People are predicting an unusually hot summer. I have no idea where they get this information, but supposedly this past winter was unusually cold, too. Which it wasn't really. Just the regular don't-lick-the-lamppost cold. So maybe this summer won't be frightfully hot, either.

Plastic deck tables and chairs have sprung up outside the convenience stores. Around twilight, all sorts of people sit around drinking and chatting, watching the traffic go by. Down the street, the LG25 store got rebranded due to a corporate move to spin off the home-related stuff they do and is now a GS25. The navy blue, red and orange striped sign has been changed to a sea green and turquoise sign; A combination I don't really appreciate. Just like Sedona's teal arches, the new GS25 signs are garish and simply don't belong in the landscape. Sedona's red rocks are a far cry from Seoul's cacaphony of neon, but the overall affect that the combination makes is the same: bad.

Unless I go out of my way to go to Phoenix in August. Which I will. I've been thinking that this decision, to go home during the hottest month is really, really stupid. Why not wait until October? The extra money I'd make here wouldn't be so bad. I miss old friends. I miss driving along the highway, playing in the desert, drinking tasty beveradges by the pool... It's time for a good dose of everything that makes home "home"; from the searing seatbelt clasps to the blinding white stucco apartment complexes. Also, I'd like to eat a meal not involving kimchi in some manner.

So in two months I'll go home for a bit. And then return. I'm looking forward to not teaching for a while, the potential that a new job will hold. And, maybe, the good distractions that another year here will hold.