Cold PSA

First: go vote for me on the "Best English Language K-Blogger" poll over at HiExpat: there are a few days left, and I'm within striking distance of fourth place... Roboseyites, Represent!

Second: It's BLOODY COLD!  I don't think I've ever seen it this cold in Seoul before.

And here's the PSA: Until it gets a little less frigid, don't forget to run your taps for a while, and flush your toilets once or twice, at night before you go to bed, so your water pipes don't freeze and explode overnight.  The older and smaller the building you live in, the more this applies to you.

In tribute to the cold, here's a song with "cold" in the title: "Cold War," by Janelle Monae, one of the hyper-talented young artists making music today.  Remember in 2000 when Alicia Keys had her song "Fallin'" out and everybody's ears were pooping with excitement at what had just come across the airwaves?  That's how stoked I am for Janelle Monae's career.  More about her later, or at least more videos of hers.

This one's a good one, too: the whole video is done in extreme closeup on her face, which makes the performance really intimate.  Plus, she can sing like a house on fire.

Roboseyo's Favorite Things About Winter In Korea, and Two Rabbit Trails

It's cold.

Or in the words of the young lady I stood next to at the bus stop, "It's cold. It's cold. It's cold. Oh! It's cold.  It's cold.  It's cold.  It's cold.  It's cold."

Cold is funny in Roboseyoland, though, for a few reasons.  First of all, communication with Wifeoseyo about cold is very entertaining.

An analogy: my grandmother will notice if you drop a single jalapeno into a six person meal's worth of spaghetti sauce.  And imagine her eating something, and saying, "Say, this is really, really spicy!  It's way too spicy for me."

Then, imagine my (imaginary) friend Vijay, who grew up in the spiciest province of India, raised on Mama "Five Days of Afterburn" Sen's five alarm curry.  He takes a spoonful of something, and says, "Yeah, this is a bit hot, I guess."

Well, my grandmother going, "This is way, way, way too hot for me," is a about like Wifeoseyo saying, "Roboseyo," (she actually calls me that), "Dress up really warm!  It's going to be really really cold today!  You better be ready!"

And Vijay going, "It's kinda spicy," is like me going, "Yeah, it's kinda cool today," when Wifeoseyo asks about the weather.

(image)

This leads to funny miscommunications, and the development of the 140/70 rule: When she says it's cold, she describes it as being 140% as cold as it actually is.  When I say it's cold, she understands that I'm understating the weather at about 70%.

The funniest thing was this weekend, when the inlaws were in town, mom-in-law-oseyo told me it would be cold... and overrated the cold at exactly the same rate Wifeoseyo does.  

And despite this, Wifeoseyo underdresses for the cold. But this is an opportunity in disguise for me:

Roboseyo's Favorite Thing About Korean Winter #1:

(This message is for the guys:) You see, gentlemen, if you're dating a Korean lady, you should know there's a Korean saying that a fashionable woman is cold in the winter... and this works to your advantage, because chivalry is not dead in Korea.  Just keep an extra pair of gloves in your pockets all winter.  And wear a scarf you don't actually need when you meet her, so that you can pull it off and give it to her.

Wifeoseyo eats it up every time.  It's one of my best tricks.  That and cooking breakfast.

Chivalry. Korea. Not dead. Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I, and Hamlet Cigars.  The stuff you find on Youtube with the right keywords.

But yeah. Chivalry is not dead here.

Roboseyo's Favorite Thing About Winter #2:

Ondol.  Heated floors are glorious.

Roboseyo's Favorite Thing About Winter #3:

Balgan Naebok

(Rabbit Trail 1)

My brother lives in a place so cold that the Wal Mart parking lot has an electric outlet at every parking space so that you can plug in your car's block heater while you're shopping, and it's so cold there, that during the dead of winter, you need to.  

But Canadians aren't actually tougher than others: we don't have special cold-repellent skin like polar bears or tauntauns (see below).  We just know how to dress for the cold.  

Some Koreans also dress for the cold: the long underwear section in Korea is awesome, because it's so egregiously unfashionable: it's called "bbalgan naebok" (빨간내복) or "red under clothes"

(source)

But good luck finding someone under 40 wearing it.

In Edmonton, they don't say "A fashionable lady is cold," just "It's freezing out dere, eh?  Bundle up, dumbass."  I grew up in Southern Ontario, with weather like Michigan, or Buffalo, for you United Stonians.

(image: a tauntaun.  That'll cover my nerd quota for the week.)

(Rabbit Trail 2) 

Since you asked, here are my three pieces of advice for managing the cold:

1. Head Feet Hands.  If your head is warm, your feet are warm and dry, and your hands are warm, you'll be OK in the end.  If your head is bare, your jacket can be warm enough to collect pit-stains, and you still won't feel warm.  Meanwhile, cold feet = unhappy Roboseyo.

2. Layers.  If you overdress, and sweat in your winter clothes, it's going to end badly.  Layer, and use zippers, so you can tie things around your waist, unzip things, zip things up, and pile on and undo layers, so that you're never over-chilled, nor over-warm.  Include at least one layer that is wind resistant. Wool is warm, but porous.

Roboseyo's Favorite Thing About Winter in Korea #3:

3. These things.

Neck buffs.  See, sometimes I have to give my scarf to Wifeoseyo.  I'm OK with that.  Because neck buffs are so fantastically multipurpose, I can keep warm whatever part has been exposed.

(photo)

Plus, they pack away tiny into your pocket, which is a total boon for a dude who likes giving his wife his winter gear.  They're also machine washable, unlike gloves with that thinsulate crap in them.  Layers are WAY better than extra insulation.  And in the summer, they breathe enough to be decent sun protection, too.

Doubleplus, these buffs are the ultimate layering aid.  On top of, or below the scarf, the hat, or whatever else you've got, they trap all kinds of heat, despite being small and thin.  Pull them over your mouth or under your chin.  I always have one or two of these things on me, and I swear by them.

You can find them at most hiking goods stores: I just got one in Namdaemun.  If you look around carefully, you can find quality ones for 18000 to 25000 won, or you can get the cheapie ones for 5000 won, and the cheapos are just as good for layering.  Another good place to find them is biking stores: moped and scooter bikers are exposed to the elements, and wear them.  http://www.guideschoice.com/scripts/prodview.asp?idproduct=834

Roboseyo's Favorite Thing About Winter in Korea #4:

Not Christmas.

More about that later.

Chuseok really Seoks this year: Rain in Seoul and Seyo's Got Good Timing

I may never have told you the story of the most touching gesture I had from a friend on Chuseok: in my first year, a buddy spent the whole day of Chuseok with me, down at Gyeongbok Palace and Namsangol Folk Village, because he couldn't imagine someone being alone on Chuseok day.  I was really touched by that.

This year, I'm with Wifeoseyo and her awesome family.  We drank some seriously classy Ballantine's whisky: me, my pop and brother-in-law, and have had a great old time bopping around Daegu.

This evening, Wifeoseyo got online and saw news reports that basically, Seoul is currently completely under water.


Here be a shot borrowed from news sources.

the images on the news are incredible, too.  Is it seriously like this?

(another - source)

So from a sensible person (say, wifeoseyo)'s perspective, looks like I got out of town just...in...time.

From a blogger's perspective, holy crap I'm missing out on the greatest blog photo essay this year!!!  And that's why bloggers are different from ordinary people.  Sensible people say "I'm not doing that.  That's buttflapping crazy!"  Bloggers say "I'm in.  Just let me get my camera."


The mad blogger in me wishes I was there, so I could put on my bathing suit, strap on some water wings, put my camera in a dicapac (got one for the honeymoon with coral) and go out exploring Seoul underwater... hoping I didn't get washed out to the Han River, like my buddy Joe almost did.

If you have a floody Seoul story, share it in the comments.

Sweet! Fresh Snow~

You may have heard that we had a record-breaking snowfall early on Monday. It was sweet.




Modern comedy is too fast paced. Nobody appreciates a really delicious awkward pause anymore.


And because I love snow, I went out in the snow to take some pictures. Jongmyo Shrine and Changgyeonggung were my destinations, and it was great. I'm going to write this post quickly, so please pardon lack of organizational coherence, etc.. If it really bugs you, well, you got what you paid for, didn't you?

This was built in a snowpile in myeongdong.




Palace and grounds.


























Jongmyo Shrine and Grounds







liked the snow pattern on the roof here








tracking across fresh snow is such a joy. I couldn't even tell you why.


liked this wonky tree. cool-shaped branches


everybody was out there with their cameras, taking pictures of everything.






The ajosshi playground in front of jongmyo shrine.








The fresh snow was deep.

and wet, later.

barely felt like Seoul.


All around myeongdong the snow had been scraped and broom-brushed (can you believe people use brooms to clear snow in Korea? And nobody has a proper snow shovel.


Chunggyecheon at night always makes me happy.





ze han river. taken from a subway car.


more on my travels this christmas break, and a look back on 2009, coming soon on Roboseyo

Thunder and Lightning

When I was a little kid, I lived in Southern Ontario, where summer evening thundershowers are a common occurrence. After bedtime, which was when they happened, the thunder used to wake me up, and I'd stand on the bed headboard, poke my head under the curtains, and look out at the skyline and empty land behind our house (before it all got developed into suburbs) and watch the lightning flash on the farmland on the other side of the lake.

To this day I love thunder and lightning storms, almost as much as they frighten one clan of my cousins, who inherited a pretty sharp fear of thunder from their mom.


we been having thunder and lightning storms in the early morning around Seoul this week, and I've been tempted to get out of bed and point my camera out the window, in hopes of getting something like this. Yeh. Supercool.

SpringAndStuff...and EVIL DEAD!!!

So yesterday the air quality was butt, with a chance of awful.
But it rained in the evening, effectively rinsing the sky out.
And today was flamb-tastic! The sky was blue, the temperature was mild, and everybody and their pet duck walked around the Chunggye Stream at lunch break.



I like the way the sky, and another building, are reflected in the windows of this building. And look at this! Not only is there an "Evil Dead" musical, but it's coming to SEOUL!


Evil Dead's sequel, Army Of Darkness, is the funniest bad movie I've ever seen, and the first two, Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, are pretty incredible, themselves -- it's a low-budget horror trilogy with such cheesy special effects and goofy catch-phrase lines it's become a cult classic.
I'm interested to know how the musical turns out. . . but I wonder how they'll do scenes like this:
(warning: bloody. . .but extremely funny. Gotta watch out for those demon-possessed hands.)