January Update - Weather, Holidays, and Daejeon

Hey everyone! Sorry about the long delay in posting.. to be honest, blogging fell out of our routine and our days got filled up with other things. But we are back at it and we have a lot of updates and pictures to share with you guys.

First off--happy new year! We hope everyone is having a great start to 2018. Here are our updates:

Weather and Air
Since we last posted it has become extremely cold here in Korea. There was a week in December where our Korean co-workers told us there was a cold-front coming from Siberia. It's hard to find news sources in English, but the Chosunilbo reported that the current weather is due to a "cold continental anticyclone." Which sounds both epic and terrifying. But all it really means is that cold air is being pushed here clockwise from the northern to the southern hemisphere.

Our apartment building--snowy week

We've had some fun times running in the snow this winter

At least the bus stop is covered--this snow was a bit wet

View from one of the classrooms

Our week

The cold weather aside, we have also been dealing with a new issue--air quality. This week in particular we have been warned that the air quality is dangerous for at-risks groups like children, the elderly, and those with asthma and other lung disorders. Our co-workers told us that there is a special mask you can buy which is meant for the "fine dust" particles. We were also told that the air quality suffers from air that comes from China, and that the spring season is when the air quality is the worst. Yesterday the index was hovering around 200 ppm... which is just terrible. But today we are sitting in the 30s, so I guess every day will be different. There is a really fascinating air quality time-lapse forecast you can watch here.

Crazy 😟

Holidays
We celebrated Christmas Eve with our Korean and foreign co-workers. It was really nice. We missed our families and home, but it was nice to celebrate with new friends. Koreans celebrate Christmas a little differently than in America. There isn't really a strong culture of gift-giving or Santa. And the decorations are toned down compared to the US. Granted, there are no homes to throw lights all over, but a few of the apartment complexes had some lights up near their entrances.

Kids simply seem to like the holiday because it means no school. And there's cake.

We were told that Koreans eat cake on Christmas

Trips

We took a day trip to Daejeon, the 4th largest city in Korea, with two other foreign teachers. We had fun exploring the open air markets, science expo area, upscale shopping malls, and hitting up the huge dollar store chain Daiso. I will just go ahead and share the pictures from that trip, since there aren't too many (it was so cold I couldn't feel my fingers for long after pulling out my phone haha)☺

Some traditional winter "comfort food" ... pig intestines, blood sausage, and other bits.

At the open air market

The science expo area was huge. And we will be returning when the weather is warmer. 

We enjoyed the heated greenhouse immensely on this trip ☺

Art museum and performing arts center

We could have gone and seen the Nutcracker! haha

Downtown area with shopping and delicious foods

Lights set up for winter

We will be back here when the weather warms up! There was a lot more to explore.

We also celebrated new years by taking a trip to Gyeongju. We loved it. Although it was really cold here in Sejong over the new years, it was slightly warmer going three hours south/southeast. Gyeongju is known for being a historic area. The entire city is a world heritage site full of world heritage sites. It was really, really cool to visit. We are in the middle of making a post for the trip, so stay tuned for that☺

Thanks for reading! We are hoping to get some more posts and videos out this weekend.

Coming soon: Trip to Gyeongju, What are the kids listening to these days pt II, Snacks reviews