Jeju Learns About Winter

I am back on Jeju Island and happy to be reunited with my Magnolia gals and all the KIS folks. Here's what it looked like when I first got back:

It felt good to be back at work. Here we are, Magnolia bosses, reppin our house hoodies.

It was only a bit chilly out. Nothing too crazy. We found that sad little snowperson in a random parking lot.

The strange combo of palm trees and snow:

BUT THEN!!!
THE WINTER STORM HIT!!!!!!



Because of this, it has been quite a memorable week and everyone is losing their minds about this weather. As a seasoned Canadian (and thus a seasoned winterer), it is VERY entertaining to watch everyone's reaction to this new winter wonderland. Word on the street about the storm:

- It's the most snow Jeju Island has seen in 35 years
- There were over 1000 people sleeping in the Jeju airport last night (which, for the record, is a pretty small airport)
- Over 6000 people have had flight cancellations
- Flights to/from the island have been grounded for two days
- KIS hasn't had a school cancellation in years, and the last storm day was because of a typhoon

It's pretty hilarious because dorm life is basically the only time in the world where the announcement of a snow day is panic-inducing. It's our worst nightmare. Our kids are usually in class, so a snow day means hours and hours and hours of free time needing to be programmed, all at the last minute.

WOMP.

We are a little frazzled, but we are pros, and the kids absolutely LOVE it. They are all STOKED to go outside and build snowmen and roll around and make snow angels. This is the most snow a lot of them have ever seen in their lives! What a wild time to be alive.

Jeju is known to be the Hawaii of Korea, so I was hoping to dodge a real-deal winter this year, but here we are. At least it's not the Halifax Snowpocalypse of 2015!!! Haligonians probably still have nightmare flashbacks to that bleak period. Thank god we are not in Eastern Canada (and I'm SO SORRY if you are). Here are some other snowy images:

Here we are on a much-needed caffeine run (Blake with a raging hot chocolate addiction).

Marcelina the ice princess:

Any poor leftover tangerines were really in for it these past couple days:

The girls and I went for some late night snacks:

Wish us luck tomorrow! We're hoping for a toboggan-making event and a solid snowball fight.

Updates to come. Only two weeks until another holiday! We're planning on finally spending some time in Seoul.

PS: It would be an understatement to say that I miss Canadian food already. Some honorable mentions at meal hall recently: