a little coffee

It’s weird that you can judge the seasons here by what fruits have taken over precious walking space on the streets of Anyang. No oranges now. Or strawberries. Or raspberries. But all the watermelon you would ever need your whole entire life. Truckloads of watermelons have been spilling over the sidewalks since June. Carts full of peaches claim the corner intersections.

Three months ago, you couldn’t find any watermelon. It was pineapple and an orange-like fruit only much, much smaller (you’d need to shove six of them together to make the size of the orange). I remember coming back to Anyang after our three-week winter break and seeing pineapple. Everyone, even the tiny corner shop that sells water and pens was selling pineapple. Neatly cut chunks of pineapple on a stick.  Carts with apples also appeared around that time. But apples, except handfuls of some expensive, pink variety have also vanished.

Another shift is happening now. Soon the watermelon will vanish and be replaced with… what. 

Maybe grapes. The past couple weeks more and more fruit sellers are carrying bunches of big fat, tart, juicy purple grapes and smaller green grapes. But I’v also noticed a few sellers with itty bitty green apples, like the ones that fall from my parent’s apple tree in Minnesota.  

The only fruit I think you can get cheaply all year is bananas.