It has quickly turned into fall here in Korea and I am realizing that I didn't consider the winter season when packing to come here in the summer. I will have to go shopping soon if I hope to survive the winter. Korean people are well-known (by foreigners) to enjoy the heat in the summer. Maybe they don't enjoy it, but they refuse to turn on air conditioners unless they are near death. This would lead one to believe that they enjoy the warmer temperatures. This logical conclusion is, sadly, false.
Although the temperatures are approaching the freezing point, Koreans do not push the little button that magically warms the room. Whether the venue be school, work, a store, or a restaurant, Koreans are either completely indifferent to temperature preference or everyone is too cheap to warm up the air to be a little more comfortable. It kind of reminds me of my Dad and how he wouldn't turn on the furnance until December, but to the extreme! "Just put on a sweater." Sorry Dad. It is so cold inside that no one bothers taking off their winter jackets once they get inside.
I think that sums up my rant on what currently bothers me in Korea. In other news, although the Chinese New Year is months away, I booked a plane ticket to Tokyo (from February 6-9) since we will have a 5 day weekend because of the New Year. I will be going with Jackie and a few other friends, so it should be good to see some new places with everyone. In Korea, it is always important to book extremely early for holidays that everyone else in the country has off. By December, there will be no seats available to leave the country. I will be looking forward to that trip even though it is almost 3 months away.
A former co-worker of mine (from the hagwon-SLP) will be getting married on Saturday. She has invited me to the wedding and I look foward to seeing a Korean wedding. From what I hear, they are quite different than what we are used to.
You never know what you'll find when walking the streets in Korea. These two were just married. I guess I will be seeing more of this next weekend.
A view of the court from our seats. Our home can never seem to pull off a win. They were winning throughout much of the game but lost by 10 points in the end.
An international friendly game: Korea vs. Canada/USA/England. We win 2-0!
Singing at the singing room. I believe this was Piano Man by Billy Joel, a crowd favorite.
Mmmm. This wine box tastes good.
The weekend before last was Halloween as I am sure everyone is aware. There was a traditional costume party at 'Deep in'- the foreigner bar in Jeonju. It was a good time, just as it was last year with many outlandish costumes.
Arrrrrgh. Scaring the locals.
This is also scaring the locals, but in kind of a different way. That is one ugly lady!
Jackie and I were pirates for Halloween or as the Koreans say, "Jack Sparrow" because apparently all pirates are the character from the Pirates of the Carribean movies.
Home-made Star Wars costumes. They look pretty good!
My favorite Halloween costume. Perhaps it's because the mask has nothing to do with halloween at all or maybe because the horse has a look of shock on it, as in "What am I doing here?"
Work has been going well. Unfortunately, it has not been filled with random days off as it was in the beginning. Hopefully something will come up soon. The Korean school schedule is always a surprise (even to the Korean students and teachers I think). Apparently I will get a a week or two off sometime between now and February, but I don't know when. I am hoping to possibly return to Thailand. It was so good the first time, I don't think I could go anywhere else.The month of November has been nicknamed 'Mo-vember' by some of my friends here. Mo being short for Moustache. The task: to proudly wear a moustache for all 30 days! So far, it's day 5 and I'm still going strong.
Nik, Jamie and I. All participants in Mo-vember.
