Dosan Seowon, Korea, April 2011
It was before noon, raining and windy. You would not go on a trip to Dosan Seowon on such a day unless it was the only day you could do it ever. Few people were there when I arrived and the calming silence was so suitable for the old Confucian school… I thought… until the buses started arriving, one by one, filling in the parking lot and letting out tens, hundreds, lots and lots of school kids who filled in tightly all the rooms of the establishment. Suddenly the remote, lonely, quiet place was filled with life, voices, laughter, the sound of running feet… And then out in the rain, the umbrellas came out and it felt so cozy and casual.