Baby, Its Cold Outside

Its freezing in Daegu.  I'm not talking about from my Canadian perspective, but to fellow Daegu-ers, it is cold in this city.  Everyone tells me that this winter was the first time they have seen snow, and this is the coldest its been- ever.  I'm not sure how true this is, but I do know this, according to the Chosunilbo,  

"Seoul's morning low was -17.8 degrees, the coldest since 2001. Other areas also experienced their lowest temperatures this winter with -24.3 degrees in Cheorwon in Gangwon Province, -23 in Munsan, Gyeonggi Province, -16.1 degrees in Daejeon, -13.1 in Daegu, and -11.7 in Gwangju.

  

Experts attribute the record chill to climate change, which is pushing cold air masses from the North Pole through to the southern parts of the Korean Peninsula.  The North Pole has recently seen the mercury soar 10-15 degrees from an average -35 degrees in previous years, resulting in a decreased gap between temperatures in the North Pole and middle latitude areas. That in turn has pushed southward the Jet Stream, a fast upper wind current generally flowing from west to east and often preventing cold air masses from moving south."

This cold weather has made me stay indoors a lot.  As I sit on my floor heated by my Ondol heating system, I've become addicted to watching Korean TV and music videos.  My new K-Pop fascination lies with GD&Top.  G-Dragon and T.O.P. are from the humongously popular Big Bang boy band.  As I was sitting on my floor watching this music video, I realized that I am in love with T.O.P (the blond guy).

Another thing that I love watching is anything with Kang Ho Dong.  It seems that he's in some sort of variety show (and Koreans LOVE their variety shows) every hour, and I could watch all of them.  1 Night 2 Days, is my favourite at this point.  Its 6 guys that go somewhere for 1 night and 2 days and participate in crazy events.  Kang Ho Dong is wearing the green New York Yankees hat.  Ohhh 진짜!

In my ways of seeing what Daegu has to offer, a couple of friends and I visited the convention centre EXCO for their Trick Art show exhibit.  Its amazing what 10,000w can get you here!  This show was simply amazing.  It was loads of fun and you can easily spend three or more hours taking wild and wacky pictures.  I would go again and I would tell anyone else to go if they could.  Lasting until February 22nd, 2011, this is one of the many reasons I find myself falling in love with Korea.




Another way to stay warm during Winter- book a trip to the Philippines!  I'll be on my way in about a week and hopefully see if I can catch the tail end of Lunar New Year in Seoul when we get back!
As all Koreans tell me- be safe and stay warm so you don't catch a cold!