Skiing, Korea Style!

After suffering through bone-chilling cold the first part of winter in South Korea, the weather has finally warmed to near-freezing here, making it a great weekend to try myself on the ski slopes near Seoul.  Thankfully, there is decent skiing within a day trip of Seoul to entertain us during the winter months.

Vivaldi Park, before it became super crowded

I set the alarm early Saturday morning and caught the 7AM bus with a group of my work colleagues to Daemyung Vivaldi Park Ski World, located a little over an hour's drive east of the city.  We could have used some sun – I think Chinese air pollution is blocking the sky currently – but otherwise the conditions were pretty good.  In fact there was less ice on the slopes than I was expecting.

The resort wasn't very big, only 10 runs, and the slopes were quite crowded by midday with a lot of snowboarders (yuck).  The difficulty level of the terrain was not hard though, so the only difficult part of skiing was dodging all the other people on the mountain.  Even the "expert" slope would only be considered a blue at a US resort.  In fact, the "expert" slope was the most pleasant as it was the only run not densely traveled...either most Koreans are novice skiers or the experts go to better resorts in Korea (the best skiing is reputed to be on the east coast of the peninsula).

Despite the sign, Rock (락) was not double-black diamond caliber

We only skied for about 4 hours, then grabbed some snacks (I had ramen noodles) and returned to Seoul mid-afternoon.  With our Samsung employee discount the price was quite cheap, about $35 with the ski rental so despite the mediocre terrain I felt we received good value for our ski currency.  I could become a regular Korean ski bum at that price!

Watching Football in Korea

There are a few things you must give up living here as an American expat. Drive-thru Chick-fil-A, for example. And, generally, NFL football is one you need to give up on too, unless you have a very flexible job or an incurable insomnia that strikes in the wee hours of Monday mornings.  As the "early" games kickoff here on Monday morning at 3AM and Faith Hill is crooning her "Sunday night" anthem as I'm in the office sipping my first weekday cup of coffee, I really haven't been able to watch anything more than internet recaps when I get home from work on Monday evenings.

More of a "wine and cheese" crowd this past Sunday

This extreme time inconvenience, however, hasn't stopped me from trying to follow the proceedings on the gridiron this fall. In fact, I even in my infinite wisdom decided to join a fantasy football league this year with friends from business school, playing for the first time in many years. I had once played fantasy long ago, but got too emotionally wrapped up in it and obsessed over my players' stats every Sunday. I figured I could not possibly obsess over a team in Asia when I couldn't watch the games, though didn't consider that this lack of viewing time may actually impede my ability to know who the good players were...

Playoffs are different though -- the NFL actually plays sometimes on Saturday! And as my Green Bay Packers drew the Saturday night time slot in consecutive weeks, I actually had a chance to watch them play live Sunday morning in Korea! Courtesy of a projector and a Slingbox, a group of my colleagues and I have actually been able to watch some of the games here during the month of January.

That's me in the Aaron Rodgers jersey (photo courtesy John V.)

Sadly, my Packers lost to a strong San Francisco 49ers team this past weekend, but I briefly relished the opportunity to sit back on a sofa, drink beer (although it was Cass), eat Doritos (which do sell in Korea) and obsess uselessly over my favorite football team like a true American!

Now back to having true cultural experiences of Korea...  ^_^


P.S. I finished 7th in my fantasy league, out of 12 teams

Cold!!!

Happy 2013!  Or as the Koreans say, 새해 복 많이 받으세요!!  This roughly translates to, "please receive a lot of fortune in the new year".

I returned to Seoul for New Year's after a quick one-week trip to the US. Despite jet lag, I was able make it to midnight and celebrate my first dawn of a new year in Asia.  2012 was an incredible year for me with a lot to reflect upon – finishing business school, travels all over the world, starting a new job and moving to a new country, making new friendships and enriching existing ones.  Now I look forward to an exciting year ahead.

Many sidewalks are a treacherous, icy mess right now

But in the short-term...it's COLD in Seoul!  I knew I would likely experience my first "real" winter here since college, but I wasn't quite prepared for the frigid onslaught that has swept over the Korean peninsula so far this winter.  Even though I've lived through even colder weather in Boston and Wisconsin (and I did check the historical record on this) my blood has thinned from 8 years of reasonable Virginia winters.  Thankfully, I'm prepared with a down overcoat and a closet full of sweaters.

My colleagues and I picked a helluva winter to move here, though.  Even by Seoul standards, it's frigid right now:

• December 2012 was the coldest in Seoul since 1967! (according to the Korea Meteorological Administration)
• On January 3rd, when the thermometer reached -16.5 C (2 F), it was the coldest temperature recorded in Seoul since 1986!

All this cold has made going outside a little treacherous.  Thankfully, snowfalls here have been light so far, but as Koreans don't seem to believe in salting walkways, every sidewalk that hasn't been thoroughly swept (usually with a broom) becomes an icy mess.  I only slipped for my first time today (and thankfully wasn't hurt) but I have lost track of the number of my "almost slips" – too many to count!  The office isn't too hospitable either...allegedly set at 20 C (68 F) by government regulation, but feels far cooler than that. I guess energy efficiency does have its downside...

Seoul Samsung Thunders vs. Incheon ETLand Elephants

As I learned from my childhood, the only remedies for getting through the dark, bleak winter are to bundle up and find activities to help you pass the time until the weather becomes more hospitable. This weekend, my colleagues and I checked out our first Korea league basketball game! Though the quality of play roughly the quality of NCAA Division 3, we weren't complaining as it was, similar to Korean baseball, quite cheap. I also look forward to trying out some of Korea's ski slopes soon.

I'll leave you with another Korean phrase I've learned this winter: 감기 조심하세요  ("take care from the cold!")