It's Official: Koreans Don't Understand Mittens on Strings

Dummy on the right doesn't get it

I noticed this a few weeks back; ajummas, young children, and stylish bitties wearing mittens on a string. Trouble is,  they were wearing them all wrong. In fact, none of them were wearing them right. They wear them outside their coat, thrown over their shoulders like a towel, or a weird necklace; just letting them hang alongside their scarves. This morning I saw four more times on the subway home. It's official: Koreans don't know how to wear mittens on strings.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the proper way to wear string mittens is to feed them through the arm holes of your jacket.
There are many pros: reduced chances of losing one mitten and rendering the pair useless, dropping a mitten on the floor/ground, the ease to which you can whip off your mitts when you don't want them on, discrete perma-mitts you never have to look for,  and not looking like a dummy with your mittens on the outside of your coat.
Cons? Awkward in the bathroom.

As in most places, but Korea especially, it would be quite rude for me to point out this mitten faux-pas to strangers on the subway. So two days ago I pounced when one of my students arrived in class with an outrageously long pair of mitten strings sitting on her shoulders outside her coat. Without a word, I took off her coat, fed the mittens through each arm hole, and helped her put the coat back on. I explained that this was the superior way to wear mittens on a string.

"Laura Teacher, it is perfect"

She tried them on, took them off, then tried them on, then whipped them off.


YOU'RE WELCOME.

Skiing in Korea: Jisan Forest Ski Resort

On this past Sunday we decided to hit the slopes for a day of skiing. Friends who had been skiing in the past recommended we leave at the ungodly hour of 5:45 am to make sure we get there before it is too crowded. 

In order to get to the subway station we were meeting at I had to wake up at 5am.  We met at Jamsil Station at piled into the car for the 40 minute drive. 

As we started to approach the mountain, there were dozens of rental stores lining the road, packed full of equipment and gear. We stopped in one. I got my pick of pants and jacket. I chose to wear as much red as possible to highlight being a Canadian, obviously.

When we got to the hills it was 6:30am. The sun still hadn't come up but the hills were already pretty busy.

We skied for just over 3 hours. I alternated between giving Renee some beginner ski lessons on the baby hill and trying out some of the other hills.

By the time we were finished my toes were frozen and the hills were PACKED with people. An interesting mix of experts, who were too fast and wearing too many expensive pieces of equipment for the size of the resort, and beginners/people who thought they were good; going too fast and bailing hard all over the place or cutting you off.

We left and got some delicious Vietnamese food (added a new picture to my "Only in Korea" from the menu), then headed home. Overall, a great day!

Got a Surprise in the mail.. from Disney World!!

So much joy after receiving MAIL!

Hi Mickey

Thanks Ryan!