Snow

Following my assertion last Thursday that summer had arrived in Seoul, I should've known that meteorology would have taken note and gone out of its way to prove me wrong. Saturday was beautiful, 20+ degrees - I biked to a teacher training course in Jongno in just a t-shirt - and Sunday was passable. As I'm typing though, Tuesday evening, 5.30, it's fucking snowing. Snowing!

Stupid country.

Exercise

The only exercise I got in my first seven months here was walking up and down the copious steps all over the place and occasionally jumping around like an idiot trying to entertain 5 year olds. My diet was such that I didn't become all fat and that, but I wasn't feeling particularly great.

That's starting to change. I started going on long exploratory walks when the weather was clement. Then I noticed the big chunk of mountain right next to where I live and discovered hiking. Last weekend I bought a bike, and Seoul got a bit smaller. Tonight I'm going to cycle the few miles to Hyehwa and back. Granted we're going there for a curry, but still, I'm exercising! Plus I'll save a few thousand won in taxi fare.

Summer appears to be back, too - just as it happened in the autumn, the weather changed overnight. We went from freezing - it was insanely cold at the weekend - to 20 degrees this week. I went to work in just a shirt today. This is welcome news after the bleakest winter ever. Very welcome. 

Weather report

Today (despite what it says above) is the first day of October, and summer's still in full swing. It was, according to internet weather sources, 25°C today, and I just walked to the shops in shorts and flip flops. Still, there are signs that winter's on its way.

According to the same source, last Tuesday it was 30°C. The next day, it had dropped ten degrees. Autumn, it seemed, had arrived literally overnight. The first morning of the mysterious dip in temperature was a bit weird: for the first time in three months I was actually a little tiny bit cold. I soon realised, however, that I was merely experiencing what are normal British summertime conditions. Koreans, meanwhile, were wrapping up like a blizzard was coming. While a good number of jumpers, coats and even scarves were dusted off here in Korea, a quick glance at the crowd at the Premier League game on TV on Saturday and not a long sleeve in sight. I checked the temperature in Liverpool and yep, at 21 degrees it was the same as here.

I'd been enjoying the breeze and finally relenting humidity, but the last couple of days have been pretty warm. Winter's supposed to be bitter here - given the fact that the locals are layering up on balmy 21 degree afternoons, seriously, how bad can it be? (Check back here in about six weeks...)