Tidbits from Korea

The holidays have come and gone, and winter is in full force here in Korea.  Before I came here, I read that winters are "mild."  Great, I thought.. What I should have thought was, mild compared to what?  Compared to Alaska, perhaps, this could be considered mild.  Compared to Dallas, it's a frozen arctic tundra.  Luckily, I escaped to Cambodia for a few days over New Year's (not to be confused with Lunar New Year, which is a much bigger deal here).  Cambodia was a much needed dose of flip flops and tank tops and laying by the pool, but posts and pictures will have to wait for next time.

Despite the weather, the Koreans continue to wear next to nothing.  Some of my kids come to school with socks and flip flops (a very common occurrence in Korea) and thin sweaters.  Keep in mind, these aren't poor kids - they are coming to a private school solely for the purpose of learning English, and many of them attend more than one of these specialized private schools.  But what really gets me is the Korean women, who insist on wearing tights and leggings year-round, which they cover with a short skirt or jean shorts.. They'll wear a huge poofy jacket and massive woolen scarf, but next-to-nothing on their legs, some with boots, but most with heels..  heels! In the snow.  Just one of the mysteries of Korean fashion, along with the aforementioned socks-with-flip flops, and the matching couple outfits. 

Aside from strange clothing choices and frigid weather, Korea is still as amazing as when I first arrived.  I learned how to read and write Hangul my first month here, and it took all of about two days.  They are very proud of their written script because it was actually invented much later than the spoken Korean language.  And they should be proud, because it is incredibly easy to learn, as it is completely phonetic.  My boss laughed at me when I told him I can read Hangul now, and said, "Well you can read it, but you don't know what it says!"  But that's not entirely true.  First of all, I do know several words now in Korean.  Secondly, they actually write a lot of English words in their script, and once you sound it out, you'll find out that it says "bus" or "chicken" but it's just written out in symbols.  It's quite funny sometimes when you're standing on the street sounding out letters from a sign and after five minutes, you go "Oh!!  It says coffee!"  It definitely comes in handy, as well as the few phrases I have learned.  I've got greetings, some directions, "I don't know," numbers, which isn't easy here because they have two systems, and tons of restaurant vocabulary because I do love Korean food. :) 

For now I'll leave you with a few beautiful scenes around Seoul and Suwon (a city closer to where I live).  I promise to write more in the next few weeks, as I've finally figured out how to switch my blog settings from Korean into English.  Hope everyone is well, wherever you are in the world.

Hwaseong Fortress Wall, Suwon

Seoul Lantern Festival, Cheonggyecheon Stream, downtown Seoul

Namsan Tower (South Mountain Tower), Seoul