Just south of Siberia

That's right, I'm giving you two posts in one week. Enjoy.

Seeing as spring is coming, I figured I may as well go ahead and write my winter post before the cold wears off. Possible titles I juggled for this post included "this ain't no North Carolina winter," "walkin' in a winter wonderland," and "brrrr!" However, while writing the previous sentence, a much better title came to mind.

The first day I worked, I foolishly wore a long sleeve button up shirt and a thin jacket. Bad idea! I have since learned to layer my clothes. I was SO cold. I now wear two or three layers and bought a much warmer coat when I went to Daegu. I have bought a few sweaters and several undershirts. One day I wore a short sleeved shirt. I was hot when I got to work, but I was very cold and needed my coat within a few hours. There are many days I have worn my coat all day at work, namely when I was sick with a 100 degree temperature (people just don't take off work for silly things like a high temperature here). I take gloves, a scarf, and a hat with me everywhere. I don't always wear the scarves because I don't like having things around my neck, but the gloves and hat are generally a must. (Thanks to Mom and Joy for the extra scarves!!!)

So when I got here, I asked my boss how cold it gets. He said maybe the coldest is about -10 Celsius (ie. 14 Fahrenheit). I'm freaking out here. Really? Then I decide to be hopeful. Maybe that only happens on the coldest days. I'm wrong. Not only is it typical for it to be around -8 each day, but I have also come during the coldest winter in over 50 years. One morning in January (in which I stayed inside) it got down to -18 with a wind chill of -24 (-0.4 / -11.2 Fahrenheit). 

Here's some British people talking about the cold winter:

Luckily, I'm a tiny bit further south and I don't use the subway much (as discussed in my previous post), but finding a cab in these cold conditions has been trying. We usually get off work around 10, and by then the sun has long since left the sky. Many a night we have walked up the hill to the apartment thinking we were dying from frostbite (that may be a BIT of an exaggeration, but it has been freakishly cold. -14 [7 F] is no joke.)

We've also had snow, and lots of it.

As you can tell by my attitude in the video, this was very early on in my stay. I was thrilled with the snow. It was my first big snowfall. It snowed again the next week, right before Christmas. I was happy with that one too. Then it just snowed again and again and AGAIN. This pattern became very annoying and I didn't like walking in it, especially up and down a steep hill! I slipped on ice more than once, albeit not like the black ice we have at home.

And then there's my heating bills. My gas bill was over 100,000 won for my first month (close to $100), so I cut down on gas and used my electric heater more, making my electric bill around the same amount in the month of February. The sad part was I was still cold!!! Ar least I have a heated mattress pad that my boss gave to each me and to the other American at my school. That and several fuzzy blankets have kept me warm at night. 

The good news is the spring is coming. I read online that when it comes, it comes fast. It was still in the negatives last week, but it's going to be above zero for at least the next ten days. I'd say that's pretty fast. There was a marked difference between February 28 (still very cold) and February 29 (light jacket weather). Come on, Spring! 

Anyway.. hopefully this will keep your blog curiosity satisfied for a while. I'm going to Daegu to visit some friends this weekend, so I don't expect to post again for at least a week!

안녕이개새요! (That means goodbye when I am leaving, which I am).

<------ At least I don't live in North Korea. It's a lot colder there!!!!

(I was behind the photo line, so it's okay.)