Gary standing in the snow in PC Central Part

Seoul and surrounding areas received a 70 year record accumulation of snow earlier this week, causing many traffic jams and accidents. The government departments responsible for snow clearing were grossly unprepared for the event. Military personnel and local police were called upon to clear roads and sidewalks, using plastic snow shovels. Apparently local governments do not own snow plows.There was even a group of Korean men shoveling the croquet court at Pyeonchong central park yesterday.

In response to the heavy snowfall and resulting traffic problems, Chung Dahm actually canceled classes Monday. Most of the instructors were already at the building or well on their way by the time they received the text message. Still,  everyone was very excited to have an unexpected evening off. Several instructors went to PC central park to play touch football in the snow (it was a dry snow and perfect for such an activity), while others of us found warmer, drier ways to enjoy the extra few hours of free time (Gary and I went to a coffee shop to read and write).

Unfortunately, because Chung Dahm is a corporation first and an educational institution second, Monday’s canceled classes (which parents have paid for) must be made up. As a result, all instructors and staff  are expected to work this Sunday from 12:00 pm to 6:00 PM to make up the missing classes. This, of course, is not something foreigners are used to doing, and it is a hard reality; Chungdahm is a a company that insists people work weekends and on a Sunday to make up classes canceled for a snow day. Even those branches that took Friday off for New Year’s day had to make up for it by having classes on Saturday.

Loosing a Sunday is rather brutal, especially at this time of the year. Christmas and New Year’s are over, the winter cold is paralyzing, and the last two weekends were lost to nasty head-colds; Spring can not get here soon enough.