The Times They Are A-Changing

My does the weather change fast out here in Korea. This is especially true considering I have no access to forecasts of any kind. One day you go out and the leaves are full of color and the air is clean and clear, and the next day it’s blistering cold and snowing. It’s like someone just flips a big weather switch or something and instantly everything changes. I’m told it’s only going to get colder, a fact I’m not looking forward to because my lips chap easily, so tender they are.

One odd pattern I’ve noticed out here is that locals seem particularly interested in the fact that their country has four distinct seasons. This topic of always seems to come up in my conversation classes, and when I tell people I’m from Seattle, one of the first questions they ask is how many seasons it has. For the record, it has two: the most gorgeous summers you have ever seen, followed by soul-crushingly long and dreary falls. I’m not sure why the topic of seasonal weather comes up so often but my theory is it’s an easy discussion to follow and you can never really be off topic with it. This in return is reassuring to language learners, who are always more willing to talk if they are comfortable with the subject matter. If that is indeed the case, let’s all hope this global warming thing gets taken care of. Imagine how boring it would if it was always 90 degrees and sunny. What would we have to talk about then?

[most of the snow melted by the time I took this picture this afteroon]

Related Listening: “Season Cycle” – XTC