Flowers at my desk

When I first arrived in Gyeonggi-do almost a year ago now, there was a pot of flowers at my desk. It still had the wrappings, just bought, not for me, probably for the teacher before, Haru. These are the kind of flowers that one buys for someone at the last minute, when you have nothing else to buy. That's the tricky thing with gifts, a well thought out gift can sometimes be a projection of the buyer instead of the receiver, that this is something I would want to have given to me as a gift. This is not likely though, because what I have just described is a slime bucket who has completely know idea about the gift giving bottom line. Anyways, the flowers at my desk are, to say the least thriving in a giraffe-like way. It's growing vertically. It's lacking girth. It's a slender plant like me, ha! It's Karim Abdul Jabar shooting his noted sky hook. The flowers are reaching for the sun in an angle that any science project about beans growing in the dark would look like. I'm a bit concerned because, the large leaves at the base of the plant have all dried up and fell off. I'm hoping my nose won't do the same with all the cigarettes I've smoked over the 11 odd years.

It's reaching, my plant. And yes, I laid claim and all responsibility over the orange blooms. This is the third bloom in one year. The first was in April 2009; the second was in summer, although that time had only four buds; and this one has been worth the wait. This past winter the buds started peeping out slowly one after the other, and it just didn't stop. Shall we say it started out as a drip and later the roof fell in from all the water. I prepared stilts for the plant, because again it lacks girth especially at the base. Everyone in the office saw the booming bloom coming but didn't say anything. That's how it is like here, opinions are held back. But that's another story. The preparation was a good thought, although another concern arises about whether or not it should have sunlight all day or only part of the day. I've noticed too much sunlight is making the young leaves wither. Or, is it the cold air which seeps through the poorly insulated window? I'm not sure, but since the weather has been warming up considerably this past week, I'm keeping it close to the window.
The bloom, sadly came when I was on vacation for 2 weeks. The best part about it was when I returned with a mind set still in Paris, there was this awesome array of orange flowers waiting. It was a million fireworks contained in a pot...still exploding at this very moment!