alas, summer has arrived...

Korea had some great spring weather, cool/warm, breezy, air full of pollen, as is evidenced by the yellow coating that settles on my keyboard every day. Wednesday was the day when spring was massacred by the charging summer heat. Don't get me wrong, Naver 날씨 (weather) reports that it's a balmy 28 degrees celsius, whatever that means. So outside, where it's still breezy, it's nice. Inside, where the windows are open but nothings blowing in, or in the English classroom where my co-teacher likes to keep the windows and blinds closed, it's hot. And you know, a lot of the students live in the dorms here. So being a young kid living without mom and dad, a fair amount come in smelling kind of funky. Then we're all trapped together in a hot, stuffy, funkified room. Joy. 


I would get it if AC wasn't installed in the school. I don't get that it's hot, people are complaining it's hot, kids are sweaty, teachers are sweaty, and still, the AC isn't turned on. So then what was the point of installing it in the first place? When I first got here, back when it was still hot, students had to beg my co-teacher to turn on the AC, and he didn't always do it. Even if he did, he usually turned it off after a few minutes. 


More fascinating is what it's like to ride the buses lately. Last summer, when it was hotter, it was on, so maybe there's a certain time frame when the drivers use it. You know. Vehicles get hot. They're like greenhouses on wheels. And public transportation? You know, that, too; sometimes I feel like livestock packed into a truck for shipment. Here's what I can understand: save some energy and hold off on turning the air on until it's freaking nasty outside. In turn, though, open the windows. I think Koreans are afraid of wind (this could go well with the impression that many are rather vain). That, or easily chilled. These days, it's been hot on the bus without AC. Windows are open, right? No. More often than not, most of the windows are closed, and if they are open, don't let an old person sit down because they will close that window. I find this really weird, as well as incredibly misery inducing. Maybe Koreans are immune to heat, which could also explain the phenomenon of blasting the heater during the winter. I'd love to be immune, sign me up for the vaccination!


And by the way, I don't understand how people can cover their faces in makeup on a daily basis. It's so gross.