추워...I'm Cold

I am glad spring has decided to return and it looks as if it will be around until summer sweats it out. Hopefully this means Monday was the last time I hear 추워 (Choowa) for a long, long time. 추워 means "I'm cold" and Koreans instantly share this feeling with you seconds after exiting a building. Fifty percent of these cries for help are blurted out to nobody at all.

Monday after my jog I got into the elevator and my riding companion was a dolled up Korean lady who mumbled, "추워" the whole ride up to her floor. Walking down the streets on frigid days it becomes difficult to walk because of all the people crying out in pain. I'll admit some days it is cold and I too am feeling it. I just choose not to walk around like an unhinged man talking to the cold gods.

Canada is far colder than Korea but my memory doesn't have vivid images of people muttering about the coldness. This is because we either heroically grin and bear it or more likely because I could never hear others swearing under all their layers of clothes. Koreans heat their interiors (including modes of transportation)to sauna like conditions and wear nothing more than skimpy winter coats. I don't feel sorry for the people who are cold here (except the homeless) because most times it's a girl in a skirt or a man wearing only a business suit who take on winters wrath and then complain about it.