Prehistoric Trees

I have a bad habit of commenting on the various smells of Korea, of which there are many in the summer. (Well, I don't see anything wrong with it, but Joel claims his nose works perfectly well and he doesn't need a running commentary on every scent we come across.) For example, the elevator at our old building often smelled like a combination of kimchi, soju, and feet, and sometimes the people who live below us are cooking when we come home, and they're kind enough to leave their door open to let the aromas, which usually involve some sort of stinky fish, into the stairwell.

On the walk home from school, though, I get to comment on one of the best smells ever. These strange trees line the street next to our apartment, and they smell heavenly at night. I have no idea what kind of trees they are, but they look kind of prehistoric, with fernlike leaves and spiky pink blossoms.



I can't figure out how to describe the smell, but that doesn't stop me from trying every night as we walk by. It's sort of sweet and heavy, heady even, but that's about as far as I get. Probably someday if I ever smell anything like it, I can say that it smells like 'those weird prehistoric trees near our apartment in Daejeon.'

Too bad there's no way to transmit smells over the Internet...yet.