Snow! Snow! Snow!

I'm told this is the most snow Seoul has had in 103 years. 27 centimeters would, I believe, be pretty routine for Western New York, but the startled Koreans stepped up admirably. I did see my first plow here, going down one of the arterial roads. The rest, though, were left to individuals and the army, and it was impressive. On every back street were brigades of citizens with brooms, spades, and even a few snow shovels, hand clearing the passage. Merchants whacked at the sidewalks in front of their shops, getting every last hard-packed clot (and much of the snow was pretty trampled--there were some closings, but mostly the city trundled on as usual). At one crosswalk, a team of shovelers lined up to cross with each green, opening a little more each time. The collective effort was really amazing, infusing the air with an almost tangible communal spirit.

The city really isn't built to handle this kind of thing. Streets are narrow, with no "grace space" before buildings loom. Sidewalks are cobbled, the bane of any shovel, and polished stone is extremely popular for stairs, curbs, and walkways. Flattened cardboard boxes are de rigeur as traction assistance devices. When the ones in front of the escalators at the subway station disintegrated, they tried grass mats (in ribbons within hours), then moved on to indoor/outdoor carpeting (aka sodden, wadded slides). By the time I headed home in the early afternoon, the escalator was closed. Everywhere, there was a lot of slipping, a lot of falling, a lot of cars getting stuck (and a lot of revving engines--nobody seems to be too skilled with this). Even for city driving, a great number of cars have strap-on ribs for their drive wheels. I also saw a ton of umbrellas in the morning, when the storm was still raging. I chuckled to myself at the Koreans and their weather phobias, but by the time I got to school and had to dry out everything I owned, they were looking pretty smart.

So Seoul is looking pretty beautiful. The dusted mountains remind me of Boulder, and the fluffy piles (for now) are much more appealing than the Slurpee-like stuff we had in December. If the forecast is accurate, it should be with us for a while.

Here (from the highest level class in winter "camp"), is one student's take:

Snow is very cold and very dirty
but I like snow.
because snow is very beautiful
and when I see that
I think about heaven