Another Snowy Monday

For a while I was complaining about how it had been raining every single Monday.  Well, now that the weather is a bit colder, we've had two snowy Mondays in a row.  I have to say, I definitely prefer it over the gross, cold rain. Mostly, of course, because it's much prettier to look at, but also because there is something charming about the children's excitement as they play in fresh snow.

Of course, the kids are slightly less charming when they're back in class and can't sit still because they're so amped about the snow.  Case and point first grade.  I see first grade right after their lunch/recess break, which means that they were CRAZY by the time they came into class.  Kids were running around, hitting each other, stealing things from each other, and telling me long stories in Korean that I couldn't understand at all.  Eventually everyone calmed down and I was reminded again of why I love first grade so much--it's that pure enthusiasm they have about everything.  Plus, just look at how cute they are...

After surviving some much less enthusiastic and much more rude classes (I'm looking at you 4th and 6th grade!), I met some friends downtown for dinner. I was pleasantly surprised to see some Christmas lights on the walking street...although I am disappointed that the huge Christmas tree isn't there this year. 

After dinner we went to Dunkin Donuts (yes, Korea has Dunkins!) because we saw that there was a special deal going on right now where you can get hot chocolate in Kakao emoticon cups.  You may be thinking "Wait, people really care enough about emoticons that they are part of a Dunkins promotion?"  The answer is YES.  Pretty much every person in Korea knows the Kakao emoticon characters because everyone uses Kakao talk for messaging... and Koreans are crazy about emoticons.  Ok, it's not just Koreans who are obsessed with emoticons.  I'll admit I'm guilty of totally jumping on this Korean bandwagon.  

I've spent a lot of money at Dunkins in the past, but I have to say...I think this was the best purchase I've ever made there.  

I can't think of a better way to end a snowy Monday than with some hot chocolate, especially when it's as cute as this. 

The first snow

Today was the first day of winter, and the weather seemed to change right in sync with the flip of the calendar.  Although the weather has had highs in the 50s for the past few weeks, today there was no doubt: winter is here.

In fact, today was the first snowfall.  It didn't accumulate to much more than a dusting, but I have to say it was beautiful...and man were the kids excited! The classes I taught were off the wall today, I think in large part because of the magic of the first snowfall.  

You can see a bit of snow on the mountains.  

A beautiful view as I waited for the bus, but man was it cold!

Mostly just a lot of mud...but you can see a bit of the snow.  

It's a bit unreal how quickly this year is going by.  As I was freezing today I kept thinking...."Wait. Wasn't that just a few weeks ago that I was sweating to death walking to school?"  

This year is truly going by freakishly fast, and it's hard to believe that the semester is going to end this month.  

Somebody please tell me how this is happening!

Something happened today...

It snowed.

I guess this whole "winter thing" is really going to happen.

Despite the fact that I'm from New England, I will never like winter, and I will never be one of those people who actually enjoys the cold weather.

The fall has been surprisingly warm until about the past week.  It actually stayed in the 60s until last week when it suddenly dropped to the 50s.  And today there was snow....I guess seasons don't change gradually here.

I've been forewarned that it's really expensive to use the heat in Korea.  Korea uses the ondol system of heating, which means that the heat comes through the floor.  It's actually quite lovely because when you're standing to do dishes your feet get all nice and toasty.  It's also great for just sitting or sleeping on the floor, but I've been warned that if I use it too much I'll be paying a pretty price for it. Recently they had heated blankets on sale at Homeplus, so I decided it was probably a prudent purchase to try to curb the price of heat.  It's currently on top of my mattress, which means I HAVE A HEATED BED.  It's awesome, especially when you get home from school, put on PJS, make a cup of tea, jump into bed and spend the rest of the night reading.  Just sayin'.

Although this cold weather is already creating some problems for me, mainly with laundry.  They typically don't use dryers in Korea, so I have to hang dry all of my clothes.  It wasn't so bad when I could keep the windows open, but I'm realizing now that it will take forever for my clothes to dry with the windows closed.  So, right now it is snowing outside and I have my window open in attempt to dry my laundry that I did yesterday.  Ugh.

Oh well.  Winter, I guess I have no choice but to accept the fact that you're here.