Comments on: Korean Cold

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 04:34:00 +0000

Nah, but I did wrap my scarf around my face, and had those big wool felt handlebar covers.

I was definitely in a rural area – the village I lived in for most of the year had about 12,000 people, and for 4 months I lived in a village with less than 100 people. None of my schools had more than 100 students.

By: Christine Ka'aloa

Christine Ka'aloa — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:04:40 +0000

@Kelsey: ha ha… yeah. You were more rural than me. You must have had one of those robber face masks on when riding yr motorcycle. At least I’m still suburb/city-ish where they have “sorta” heat. I’ve got armwarmers on in addition & wearing a little knit hat?… now I know why Koreans made that part of their style. It’s not only for the hip-hop effect.

By: Kelsey

Kelsey — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:49:16 +0000

I used to work at a rotation of 7 schools, all a 20min-1hr drive from my apartment, so I got a motorcycle (not a scooter) while I was there, to get around. Believe me, you don’t know cold until you’ve ridden a motorcycle at 80km/h when it’s -5˚F out!

And yes, when I arrived at school, the heat was almost never on, so all the clothes I piled on to survive the ride would stay on all day, often including the hat and gloves. Do you know how hard it is to write with chalk when you’re wearing gloves?

By: Christine Ka'aloa

Christine Ka'aloa — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:07:01 +0000

@Gray: Yes, my apt is heated -its a fairly good system. Turning on and off the hot water tho is a bit hard for me to remember as is, turning the shower spout off when I use the bathroom sink. I”ve sprayed myself a couple of times. Brought sufficient clothes like a decent New Yorker but some of these indoor places we naturally expect to be warm. Now when I watch Korean films and see actors breathing out puffs of smoke when they’re indoors, I’ll understand.

@Laura: The classrooms have heaters but we only turn them on when the kids are in class. If the room is not occupied, heaters are off. The rest of the building is a freezer. If nothing else, at least the kids (& myself) will be awake.

@Papa: mailing love back, tho I wish I could send the cold.

By: Laura Cancun

Laura Cancun — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:44:45 +0000

Hard for me to understand! For me, heat should be turned on in cold weather and schoolwork is hard to do in gloves… but to each his own, I guess.

Still, I can’t imagine how much they save on the heating bills!

By: Gray

Gray — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:09:01 +0000

I should have remembered that Korea gets very cold in the winter from watching MASH all those years ago, but I didn’t. Were you warned about this before you went, so you could bring appropriately warm attire? Is your apartment warm enough?

By: Papa

Papa — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:06:33 +0000

We all look forward to reading about your venture in Korea. Please keep it coming. Love from us here in Hawaii