The First Snow

The past two weekends have been quite full of new places and good experiences.


The first unexpected surprise was last Saturday afternoon. We visited the popular Lake Park, just two subway stops from us. We walked around the park, which is quite beautiful. It was, however, a very, very cold day. Even the ducks were too cold to fly south.



In our efforts to thaw out a bit, we decided to visit this place that looked like a cafe, but we just weren't sure. Every time we would go in this part of town, we would notice a building that had an airplane on top of it. Sure, any airplane on top of a building seems misplaced. But this one was painted like an eagle. It was odd, but the marketing worked. We were intrigued, so we followed the steps up to the top floor of the building.



Ahh, what a delight it was inside! The atmosphere was warm and inviting, like a log cabin, with rustic decorations and furniture. We were greeted by one of the servers that spoke English, so he explained the place to us. They give you cups with tea in them, and you can either take your cup up to the coffee bar and order fancy lattes and cappuccinos, or you could take your cup up to the coffee bar and order one of the refillable drinks, which included a wide assortment of Korean teas, coffee, and soda. We picked some random Korean words from the menu and were warmed fully by the delicious teas that we had 'ordered'. We took advantage of the refills, and were able to relax and stay warm inside. The cafe would have been the perfect place to study while in college, as there were nooks everywhere and you could borrow books and magazines from their shelves. We stayed for not quite two hours, and our server said something like "leaving so soon?"--how nice it is to feel like you can go to a place just to relax!


That next evening brought a new surprise, when we looked outside and saw snow flurries. We've seen snow flurries here before, but these particular flurries kept growing. After about an hour, this was the view from our apartment.

It wasn't much, but it was enough to cover the ground with a beautiful white, the kind that muffles the sounds of the city and somehow feels peaceful. And wet. By morning, it had all melted and we had temperatures this week that were in the low 50s. With Christmas being less than two weeks away, those small reminders of 'the season' are very comforting.

Before the snow fell, we had some friends over for cards and peanut butter cookies (the toaster oven is working very nicely!). One of the local teachers brought some curtains for us to try in our massive windows. We weren't expecting them to fit, but they fit just perfectly! We are so excited that we now have some privacy from the outside world, a shield from the neon signs outside, and window blankets to keep the cold out during the winter. And they were free! What a blessing! It was going to cost us at least two hundred to three hundred dollars.


Our week of teaching went quickly, now that we are more into a routine with our classes. Nothing is too exciting at school, but we'll try to post pictures of school soon.