What's a snow day?

There are little white flakes of frozen water falling from the sky!  Not only is it snowing, but we actually have a snow day.  Like, as in we don't have school.  No school.  I could have cut off all of my extremeties and have swine flu and bird flu and foot and mouth and we still would have had to work.  In fact, last year I had tonsilitis and I had to get a shot in my bum (it was either there or my throat) and I felt like death.  I called the boss barely able to talk and what did she tell me?  She told me that I should come in to work anyway.  Le bullshoot.

But, back to my story.  Class was cancelled today.  And by cancelled, I really mean that we have to make up for it on Saturday, but tis the life of being a hogwan teacher in Korea.  It's kind of a miracle that school was cancelled in general so I'll take what I can get. 

We wasted no time putting on our snowgear and taking Ares kitten out for his first snow experience. 

And how do Koreans react to the snow?  They donn Nike kicks and sweatpants with their trusty umbrellas.  The streets were pretty bare and we saw our 109 bus stuck on the top of the hill.  The best part by far is seeing all of the kids out of school and frolicking in the show with their cherry red cheeks and bright smiles.  I think we'll spend the rest of the day drinking hot chocolate and watching movies.  We'll probably have to take kitten out again as he's posted himself by the front door.  Isn't he photogenic? 

Oh what a weekend!

This weekend was...chaotic. I'm not even sure if there's one singular word that can accurately describe everything that transgressed since Friday.  It was insane!

First of all, the beau's mother (Mama Staudinger) arrived late Friday night for her first ever trip to Korea! We were so excited and rented a car so that we could pick her up in style. However, while she might have arrived safe and sound, her luggage did not. Le boo. To make matters worse, we were leaving at the crack o' dawn on Saturday morning and she'd be sporting the same pair of clothes for the next 2 days.

We sorted everything out, returned to Pohang, got mama a sweet hotel and then headed to bed for a few hours.  It seemed like my eyes were only closed for 2 minutes before it was time to wake up, don my Hapkido dobo ("uniform" for you non-Korean speakers) and rush downtown to catch a bus to Seoul. 

Everything leading up to Lotte World was pretty uneventful.  I slept for about 3 hours of the bus ride, ate some lunch, and slept some more.  Little did I know that once we arrived in Lotte World I would be entering a winter Christmas wonderland of delight!

Yes, it's only mid-November but I sure do like your style Korea.  We pranced in to Lotte World just in time for their Christmas parade (yes, Christmas parade).  mm-hmm, there was fake snow and everything!  They even threw in an ice rink for good measure. However, the one thing that really boggled my mind was just how they got so many western foreigners to schmooze the crowd in the parade.  

 

After the marvelous parade we found ourselves with 5 hours to kill and a few thousand Koreans to shuffle through.  Let me tell you, Koreans can queue, and queue they will.  We were only able to make it onto two rides during those 5 hours and one of them wasn't even a ride!  It was a 20 minute 3D movie and you, the audience member, were living the life of a cat.  Yeah, wasn't too happy I waited an hour for that one.  

The other ride was like the tower of terror.  You pretty much get swirled hundreds of yards in the air only to come crashing down at break neck speed.  We were trying to figure out if you could survive if your safety harness didn't latch, and let me tell you, you probably wouldn't. 

Ahhh yes, it wouldn't be a Korean theme park without a variety of funny headbands.  I was searching all day for the perfect one but nothing really spoke to me.

My future child.

The explanation of our "cat-like" experience.

Probably going to be our family Christmas photo.  ha.

We may or may not have stayed for the night parade.  What?  They had pretty lights.

Now, if you took away the ridiculously long lines (blah blah blah do I want cheese with my wine? I know), added a little more daylight, and included a turkey dinner- this little girl would be one happy camper.  Otherwise, no complaints.  It was a great way to spend our day before the big Hapkido competition.