Autumn, Chu'Seok, and Robert Frost

I love autumn. October is my favourite month of the year. All the colours of the leaves are beautiful. And the weather is usually enjoyable enough. Not to mention my favourite holiday is Halloween. I pass the month watching scary movies, celebrating, and finding some type of outrageous Halloween costume. And since I used to work at Starbucks, I usually partake of the Pumpkin Spice Lattés and Pumpkin Crème Cheese muffins.

However, this autumn is different. This October is different. Because I am in South Korea. Teaching English. There will be no Thanksgiving this year, apart from Chu’Seok. Chu’Seok isKorea’s version of Thanksgiving and it is happening today. To honour Chu’Seok, the hagwon director gave every teacher an entire crate of grapes. How am I supposed to eat twelve large bunches of grapes before they go bad? One word: freezer. Now I can eat grapes in January. Ingenious.

The leaves have not begun to change yet. It’s still unbelievably warm for autumn. And humid as fuck. And I need to purchase some autumn clothes. I found some sweet leather boots on etsy.com. I just hope I don’t look like a Larper.

To finish, I like poetry. Especially Robert Frost. Robert Frost reminds me of autumn. I will not post “The Road Not Taken” because it’s so overdone. But this poem of his is fittingly called, “October.” And with that, I welcome autumn to South Korea. And I’m ready to partake of some kimchi. Happy Chu’Seok!

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
To-morrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
To-morrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow,
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know;
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away;
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes' sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost--
For the grapes' sake along the wall.