CNN aired my photos!

It always pays being a shutterbug. I always carry my point-and-shoot everywhere. To work. To lunch. To Starbucks!

So, when it surprisingly snowed in March (it's supposed to be spring!), I updated my 'status' on Facebook (who doesn't?), which was noticed by one of my 'friends'. My 'friend', who works for CNN, then asked me for some snowy photos.

So send I did. And within the hour, during her weather segment at CNN, she showed my photos!

Too bad, I wasn't able to watch the broadcast. Only my family and friends did.

And a few days after that, she asked me for some photos again...I will have to ask CNN to treat me to dinner when I visit their headquarters someday.

The Morning After: Snowy Winter.....in March!!

And I thought the snow and flurries from the night before have all melted and left, leaving my neighborhood back to its spring-y scenario again.

But they didn't!

When I woke up today, the second Wednesday in March, I looked out my bedroom window and voila! Winter is back!

Thick snow have covered my neighbor's rooftops, covered the pavements below and totally brought me back to the winter-y attitude of not wanting to separate from the bed during the cold mornings!

And how I wanted to stay in bed a few more minutes...but had to go to work and endure the slush on the sidewalk and the inevitability of having my leather shoes get wet!

And instead of cursing the cold morning snow clouds above, I just went along with the freezing ride carrying with me my camera to take pictures in between slippery steps and intermittent outbursts of the 'F' word....which I could not write in here. Hahaha!

And you know what? A few of those photos (above) ended up being aired by CNN for their weather section. But unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch the broadcast since I was at the office cornered by my computer and reports. Oh well...

Anyways, I hope the temperatures get warmer to thaw my snowy environment and slush-y sidewalk.

Gosh, winter! You should have gone a season ago! Hahaha!

Snowing Still in March??

And I thought it was already springtime!

The day started cool. The sun was out and a cool breeze here and there. And going out to lunch at noon was perfect! Lunch at a friend's house was sumptuous and fun....not to mention very filling!

Then later in the afternoon, from my office window, the mountains afar disappeared behind grey fog....or was it already snow? I couldn't tell.

And then time to flee the office when....howling winds celebrated with commuters on their homecoming and fresh snow showered every one on the road like a thin white blanket of spring petals. Lucky were the ones who had umbrellas, but for some who weren't prepared, they had to shake off the flurries which had then melted on their head, their coats and on their shoes!

It snowed on a Tuesday night in March. And I thought it was already spring!

I guess I still should keep my winter clothes. Winter doesn't want to leave yet. At least not until this weekend.

Ciao.

The sun is up and so is the mercury!

Finally, the mercury rises!

From the freezing to the irritatingly cold, the temperatures in Seoul have finally heralded spring! Stepping outside is no longer loathed and the breezes are no longer biting. And I can now leave home with a less thicker coat, or even better, without one!

And in downtown Seoul, along Cheonggyecheon, people from the offices seem to start to enjoy a stroll down the stream during their lunch hour, especially with the sun out to help brighten their break time.

Like every one else, I now look forward to the brighter and cool days of spring!

Ciao!

South Korea Stopped For Four Minutes!

Most Vancouver Olympic watchers, like me, stay glued to the TV to watch the game these days. The speedskating, snowboarding, figure skating and ski slaloms are usually entertaining to watch, except for the irritating SBS TV commentators who scream, shout and, of all the things to do on air, cry! I could have been spared from this commentating if only I have ESPN. But I don't.

And although ice hockey and figure skating are the centerpiece sports of the Olympics, most Koreans are only watching the latter, where their very own Kim Yu-na may just bring the country's first gold medal.

With the short program broadcast last Wednesday noon, Korea time, last Friday was the free skate.

And with the time difference between Canada and South Korea, Kim Yu-na's turn to skate the ladies' free skate was Thursday night in Vancouver, noon time in Korea, Friday.

So at around 1:20 PM last Friday, every one in Korea was glued on TV at home, on their computer monitors at the offices and at public giant TV screens every where.

I happened to be at the Yongsan Station in Seoul around that time to grab some late lunch and swung at the lobby of the station where the public TVs were showing the free skate. The audience included some KTX passengers, mothers on their way to the grocery downstairs, office people, students on vacation and a few regulars who always hang around the station.

And as Yu-na didn't disappoint her countrymen, they applauded as she nailed her performance, an applause perhaps she would hear half-way around the world. And during those four minutes of her performance, she practically stopped work here in South Korea.

The Black Smoke Over Yongsan-gu

I thought the blue winter sky last Wednesday morning would remain serene, cold and...well, blue all day. But as I was taking a break away from my computer, and tried to look out the office window, I saw black smoke a few blocks away was rising above some buildings.


Well, as they say, when there's smoke, there's FIRE! SUNOG!


It was an unusual, unnerving scene seeing a black smoke streaking across the blue sky, slowly rising, slowly growing and slowly getting you to think that somewhere in that area, occupants of that building are being thrown into chaos and trying to save whatever they can. Later though, I learned from the news that it was a model unit for an apartment that went up in smoke -- that black smoke ruining an otherwise bright and blue Wednesday winter sky.


I took consecutive snapshots of the smoke. I observed that it was not able to rise up to the higher atmosphere perhaps because the freezing temperatures were forcing it to stay down. It just dissipated across the Yongsan-gu area, streaking across the horizon up to the Seoul Tower in the Nam-san area.


Although these photos were interesting in a way, I'd rather not take photos of fire and burning buildings next time.

Ciao.

A Snowed Neighborhood

Having spent my Christmas holidays in the tropics, I was just glad I was away when Seoul was suddenly blanketed with thick snow on the last week of December.


And then....vacation's over. :-(


I had to return to Seoul and sympathize with my frozen neighborhood.


And on my first morning in Seoul, in early January, this is how my Hannam-dong neiborhood looked like: snow on sides, slush in the middle and slippery ice all over!


But even with the inconvenience, people still had to get on with their daily routines...