Winter is Beautiful

And I thought I loved summer...

Winter in Korea is something else entirely!

  Pretty much since December hit we have had snow. The first snow flurry I missed, I was too busy doing nothing at my school computer. But the second time... Well! It was beautiful! It was just after lunch at school, and Jeong came tearing into my room saying "Bonnie snow!!!" We both spent a fair portion of the afternoon staring out the window as the carpark filled with snow. I know I sound like a cheeseball, but its absolutly magic. 

  Yet, I feel like I am one of few who think this... Many people have been complaining, saying its too icy, or too cold, or they don't like snow. Co went so far as to say he prefers rain. Figures he would say that. But for me, I love snow. And I am loving winter in Korea. Apparently this snow is unseasonal, they don't usually get this much snow so early in the season. I am convinced that its all for me because I love snow. 

Songshin Elementary - the view from my classroom window

The view from the school corridor - the big tiled building straight ahead is Songtan Station

Kids playing on the sports oval at school

 Even Milky likes it, although I need to get hom some shoes because his little feet get cold and then he limps. But he loves playing in the fluffy white goodness, even though then he comes inside and is all wet. For Christmas he is getting some new outfits from the family at home which he is really looking forward to. That reminds me of another thing I love about Korea - dressing up your pet.

  Which brings me to my next point...

Things in Korea that should be everywhere (i.e Melbourne)

This one is dead obvious, but I need to put it in writing...

• Reliable public transport

When I think about it, the metro train system at home is actually like the metro subway here. Except, the system at home doesn't work. And from what I hear the Myki system has managed to make things worse rather than better. This is unbelievable to me. Here, with Songtan being part of the Seoul Metro system, we use a system very very similar to Myki called the T-Money card and it works perfectly nearly every time (see what I did there??? #englishteacherfail - figure it out). Millions of people use the subway system here every day with out a drama... This system needs to be copied and applied at home. When I think about it though, people need to be a bit more responsible at home and take a bit more care of how they use public transport. That would also help... It does no good just to complain about the system, people also need to be responsable. Korean people don't abuse the system and I think that might be one of the reasons it works so well. So possibly we need to have a bit more of a Confucian attitude at home.

• Animals dressed up as other animals

This one has a shout out to Jess, as she was the one who really summed it up so nicely. If I choose to, I can dress Milky as a rabbit, or a bear, or even a cat if I choose to. Couple that with the many different outfits he can wear anyway, and different shoes. This trend MUST come to Australia. I will continue to dress my dog when I get home. I will just hope that it catches on.

This leads me to the next point - 

• Children/babies dressed as animals

You actually do kinda see this at home, but to a way lesser extent. And its still mainly the Asian parents who dress their adorable Asian children this way. All kids should be dressed as animals. End of story. 

• Bulk buying toilet paper and freebies attached to things

You can bulk buy anything I suppose, but it looks weird just coming out of Coles with 28 rolls of toilet paper. I will be doing this if I can when I get home. And here, there are free things attached to items, like a box of tissues attached to your bulk toilet paper. Or coffee with your bulk cereal. Its a great marketing idea and also I love free things (I don't drink coffee but its still awesome).

• "Tester" pads/sanitary napkins

Yes, this one is for the ladies, and its not a 'tester' so much as just an open pad stuck to the shelf that you can touch and look at to see exactly what pad you are buying. Now, I tend to me more of a tampon girl myself but they are really hard to come by here (Koreans believe that tampons are bad for your health) but the sanitary napkin market is huge!!! There is an entire aisle dedicated to pads at my local shop, and there are a heap of these 'testers' just stuck to the shelf. So you can have a feel and a look. What a great idea. Nothing worse than not reading the info properly (especially when its in another language) then getting home and realising that you brought wings by mistake. A problem of the past!!! 

• Unbelievably fast download times

This one has been spoken about heaps. Not by me, but the info for internet speed in South Korea is all over the net. I don't speak computer talk, but even I know its super fast. I downloaded the Fellowship of the Ring (extended edition) in about 10 minutes. Maybe less, I was drunk and cant remember. 

There are a heap more of these and I shall add them as they come to me.

In other news...

Last weekend I ventured with Jess to Coex, which is a giant shopping mall in Seoul. We both needed to buy winter jackets so off we went. It ended up taking us over 3 hours to get there, no joke. And we actually can't figure out why... It was just one of those days... At least we found jackets.

Coex was amazingly big, and apparently sometimes its a good place for celebrity spotting. I have no idea if there were any there last Sunday or not, but there didn't seem to be any huge crowds follwing some person around so I doubt it. It was a journey, but I would like to go back another day and have a wander. But bring cash - credit cards are dangerous!

Coex Mall in outer Seoul

This weekend was pretty quiet, but I did see my first Korean film at Megabox Cinema in Pyeongtaek. I don't have a Hangul keyboard on the Mac, but the name of the film translated to 26 Years, and its based on events that happened 26 years ago (duh) regarding student riots and the slaughter that followed. The film was pretty violent at times but I enjoyed it. I have seen a few Korean movies now, and you can pretty much break them into two categories - cutsey romantic films and dramas. I prefer dramas by a million.

Today I went with a cool group of people to go see some fossilized dinosaur eggs. Now, everyone who knows me also knows how much I love dinosaurs... So I was totally keen. But it wasn't meant to be, the day crept away and the eggs were further than we thaught. We ended up just having a fun day riding the bus all over Suwon. I still had fun, I met some cool new friends and caught up with some other friends. So all in all a good day.

Milky is doing really well, he is a bit fatter but still not putting on as much weight as I would like him to. He is such a great companion, I sometimes feel like this might be the reason I came to Korea... I really had no purpose for coming, just wanted a change, but maybe it was my fate to save him. He is such a super little dog, everyone shoud adopt if they have the chance and want a pet. I know I have said it before, but I am now 2 for 2 with shelter animals as pets - Pawpaw is an amazing cat and now Milky. Get in it animal lovers!!!

Milky and me... Spoilt dog on the bed

I think thats about it for this week. Its nearly pay day, so I can start to be social again soon. And its 16 days till Christmas and 18 days till Sissy comes to visit. IM SO EXCITED TO SEE MY SISTER! When mum came over Georgia wouldn't let me blog or fb about it, because she didn't want anyone to know she was at home alone... Mum I hope you don't mind me talking about Georg coming! 

Peace out, citizens

xoxo