Winter Sucks, Except When It Snows.

Ok, so I'm sick. That part sucks. But the snow thing was pretty cool. We'd seen a few flurries, but never enough to actually cover the ground. Then, one random Sunday, it actually starts snowing in earnest. I was pretty freakin' excited. And by that I mean I danced around like a 6 year old.







I was out with our friend Claire (read: wife #2) when it started. Angel (wife #3) and Jen (wife #1... for now, anyway...) were back at the apartment. Claire is from Rochester, New York, and was not impressed at any point. But she was indulgent enough at first, which was all I could ask. I tried to hurry her home, but I kept stopping to touch it, or watch it fall, or try to catch it on my tongue... I got pretty good at that, actually.




I'll just post a few other snow pics, because I was that happy about it. Then we'll talk about why Claire is now wife #3. Maybe 4.

This whole "new fallen snow" thing... I now understand why it's often used as a metaphor for purity or innocence. It was really remarkable to see this. I mean, this section of town that is know for the exact opposite of innocence now seemed to be one of the purest places on earth. It's probably the Floridian in me, but still...

Another pretty little walkway.

Now Angel, unlike Claire, had never seen snow before. She was thrilled and excited by it. That put her and Claire neck and neck...



Awww... yeah... we were pretty happy with everything about then.



Here's Jen and Angel together, we're all excited and happy and planning on hitting up some Shabu Shabu. (Shah-boo shah-boo)

Ok, first the people. From left to right are Cassidy and Zach, two new teachers (they replace Jessica and Mark, aka "Johnny Bravo"), then that's Angel on the end, Claire opposite her, and then Sam, and of course Minoriteam (That was for you, Jose). Anyway, shabu shabu is a little difficult to explain, despite being a LOT of fun to say. (Try it. Say "shabu shabu" 3 times, and tell me you're not at least a little happier than you were before.) You get a ton of veggies and meet, all of which you cook in a hot broth, then you pick it out of the broth and eat it. The meat is really really thin, and cooks in about 10 - 15 seconds. Really good food, though not as good as galbi (the Korean BBQ thing), and is GREAT on a cold night, like when it's snowing outside. Sam, by the way, is from Minnesota, and Zach and Cassidy are out of some weird place in the mid-west where it's cold a lot.

See this? That's why that matters. After dinner we got into a snowball fight. That part was awesome. The part that sucked was the 5 "Freaks Who Love Winter" versus the 3 "Hey, We Like To Live Where It's Warm. We Don't Need 10 Minutes To Get Dressed To Go Get The Mail For 5 Months Out Of The Year." The big thing was that Claire betrayed us. She's wife #6 now. I don't even HAVE wives 3-5. Doesn't matter.





Of course, even if you are from New York and you insist that this "isn't snow. Wait until you can't open your front door. That's snow," well, that makes very little difference when my Puerto Rican wife comes up from behind and tosses you on your bum like a sack of rice (We are still in Korea... seems only fair). See? THAT'S why I married her. THAT'S why she's wife #1. All these other wives exist only because she gets bored and wants to take someone shopping...

Furthermore, who in the hell wants to live somewhere where the elements stop you from opening your door? You know what we do when that kind of weather comes? We leave! Because we get several days warning. And we NAME a storm that does that kind of thing. Yankees...




Ok, this picture gets to be all big and centered and alone because I love it that much. This was during the snowball fight. Jen and I helped make the smaller snowman, the big one was there already. We were under assault, and realized that we needed something big. So Snowman Jr. had to die. I grabbed that little guy and charged the line. It was awesome.

Snowman Jr., you died...

you died a...

...a

...a hero. Rest in Peace.



Ok, I'm spent. How about some Snow-themed SIGN TIME!!!!





If you don't get it, I'm not going to tell you.


-Al