Climate Control

November's come in like a lion (or saja, as the case may be), and it's been a somewhat unsettling preview of what the winter's going to be like. I thought traveling to New York in February was unusual, but doing it to keep warm might actually be a first. The last two days have seen temps in the 30s--my apartment dropped 3 whole degrees, to 68. I imagine I will eventually have to turn the heat on. But school? I'm going to need a wardrobe of hats.

I thought I was a fresh air fiend, keeping windows open until much too late in the season, then still having them cracked til I'm paying for heat and my Scottish blood won't allow it. For Koreans, however, there's no such thing as too cold for fresh air. I'd wondered in previous posts about the practicalities of an outdoor floor plan in a deciduous climate. Wondered about how walking outside to get to the cafeteria and most of my classes was going to be. Now I know--COLD. But, really, the trip to lunch is pretty irrelevant because the windows and doors in the school are all as wide open as they were in early September. Like a stubborn foreigner, I kept taking off my jacket, and worse, leaving it in the office when I went to class. Mr. Kwon asked me at lunch why I didn't dress more warmly ('cause I'm just a goofy American who thinks that a turtleneck and sweater is sufficient?). He also took me to task yesterday for closing a window in the hallway. I assumed it was open because students had been clowning around, but I guess it's just standard operating procedure. (The same thing happened in my apartment building, where I thought I was being conscientious by closing the stairway windows in the morning, but found them all open again when I came home) The classrooms, heated via refrigerator-like units in the corner, are tropical cocoons, while the hallways provide the counterpoint (and the bathroom might as well be an outhouse). Everyone just wears their jacket all the time. Our office tries to straddle both worlds, cranking the heat until oranges are growing, then opening the windows wide for a brutal blast. My llama gloves, though very cute, are a bitch to type in.