Enjoying autumn

By Seo Eun-mi

One of the most important things at a job is to have good colleagues. When we have good colleagues, we can enjoy our lives at work. I am an educator and so I have had the same colleagues for several decades. I always have been fortunate to have great colleagues at work. We are like a family there. We enjoy sharing lots of great things together at school. We always go to lunch together at the school cafeteria. We try to have a balanced diet and share healthy tips. We are very careful about taking care of our health at our age.

After lunch, we like to take a walk on campus to enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Taking a walk is our daily routine. It is said that enjoying sunshine is the best way to get Vitamin D from the sun. We need to get as much sunshine as possible for our physical and mental health. I feel so healthy whenever I take a walk on campus with my colleagues.

A 30-minute walk after lunch is enough to enjoy and appreciate the beautiful surroundings on campus. I remember the lyrics of a famous song, “Sunshine on my shoulders makes me happy.” My school is located in a rural area. I am very proud of having a beautiful campus, fresh air and various kinds of trees and flowers. The sky was so clear and blue in the late autumn. This year in particular, we enjoyed a beautiful autumn without any micro dust pollution. Autumn in Korea is exceptionally beautiful. The trees change colors and the fallen leaves make the campus so romantic. There is also a beautiful pond where we can enjoy the lotus flowers. I have learned some useful information about lotus flowers and how they are used for cooking. Now the lotus flowers are almost gone from the pond. I can feel the change in the seasons. Now it is getting cold. These days it is easy to search for the names of flowers or trees on the internet. We appreciate being in natural surroundings and talking about life at school. In the evening, we can watch the bright stars. It is fun to search for the names of the constellations and planets.

Autumn is the best season to enjoy persimmons on campus. There are several persimmon trees on our campus. One day while walking after lunch, my colleague and I picked persimmons from the trees and took them to my office. What a great privilege it is to taste the fruit from the trees on our campus! These days it is hard to pick fruit in our neighborhood, since most Koreans live in apartment complexes. We just buy fruit in the supermarket.

I go to my office with the great anticipation of being able to taste sweet persimmons every day. It is fun to wait for the persimmons to ripen. They are also good decorations for my office. Whenever my colleagues visit my office, I share the persimmons with them. They are so sweet and delicious. My colleague just sent me a video about persimmons. Persimmons are very nutritious. How lucky I am to be able to enjoy this delicious and nutritious fruit on campus. Because of the persimmons, I have felt healthy this autumn. Persimmons have made this autumn memorable.

Now in this beautiful campus, our students have come back to school to have face-to-face classes. I was excited to meet them in the classroom. I am so happy to see my students on campus. Whenever I encounter my students on campus, I try to call out their names. I am good at remembering my students' names. I am sure that my students are enjoying the beautiful campus this fall semester.

The author (emseo@howon.ac.kr) is a professor of English at Howon University in Gunsan. She also teaches Korean language at the University of Maryland Global College.