so, it's getting pretty cold here in south korea... and no this is not a post merely about the weather (how pathetic would that be?!?)... i'm only saying it's getting cold, and so i have now discovered the wonders of the korean heating system. they are twofold.
one. in my apartment (all of them, really) the heat system is in the floor. when i turn on the heat, the water heater heats up the water and pumps it through pipes which are located under my hardwood floors. this is awesome. the floor gets all toasty - so your feet are always warm - then the heat rises and warms up the room. pretty neat if you ask me - much better than blowing hot air through the room.
two. this is the weird part. at school there are no heated floors - the classrooms have a central air fixture in the ceiling - in summer it's air conditioning and in winter it's heat. the problem? the teachers office (which is the size of three classrooms together) doesn't have this system... not fun in summer (when temps can reach 30-35 degrees C) or winter when it's cold outside.
it's been going down below zero at night for the last week or so, but the days have been relativelly warm and getting up to around ten degrees. not bad, but if there's no heat, you're screwed. so the school has installed two of these:
yes. this is our heater - good thing it's right behind my desk. it warms the room nicely, but take a closer look:
don't know if you can actually see it or not, (click on the picture and it should open in a bigger size) but there is an actual flame there. the "red hot" look is actually because there is a fire. it's like a portable fireplace...that runs on... wait, get this... GAS. so it's nice the room is toasty, but the fumes hit you when you come in... which isn't so nice.
another discovery that arrived around the same time as the heater/tea kettle, was a new kind of tea. at first i thought that it was there because they were boiling water on top of the heater -notice the kettle on top of the first picture? i saw the vice-principle pour the water out onto the top of the box today. i'm not sure why, it just evaporated in seconds, but it was really strange... will i ever understand anything in this country?
but the tea is just because it's that "time of year" - the cold and flu season. which, i have already been a party to for the last month, but now apparently is the season.
it's called citron tea. when i was first told what it was, i was like "oh, you mean lemon?" i was told "no, citron."
"oh, well, citron is french for lemon, so you must be mistaken." but she wasn't. check out the wikipedia article on citron.
it's like lemon tea with honey, but it's sweet rather than sour like lemon. so it's this big jar of sliced up citron and honey - you scoop it out with a spoon and add hot water... and it's delicious! i even bought some for home.
this is what it looks like in your cup. the "bits" are usually in the bottom of the cup, but i held them up for you to see... i'm still not sure if you're supposed to eat it or not, i've just been throwing out the chunks left at the end. anyway, it's really yummy and if you can find it where you live, try it. it's supposed to help ward off colds, though i think that's the same as the vitamin C myth - if you have enough of it, you won't get sick... what a load... colds and flus come from germs not from not getting enough vitamin C.
anyway, i'm off to have a cuppa...
one. in my apartment (all of them, really) the heat system is in the floor. when i turn on the heat, the water heater heats up the water and pumps it through pipes which are located under my hardwood floors. this is awesome. the floor gets all toasty - so your feet are always warm - then the heat rises and warms up the room. pretty neat if you ask me - much better than blowing hot air through the room.
two. this is the weird part. at school there are no heated floors - the classrooms have a central air fixture in the ceiling - in summer it's air conditioning and in winter it's heat. the problem? the teachers office (which is the size of three classrooms together) doesn't have this system... not fun in summer (when temps can reach 30-35 degrees C) or winter when it's cold outside.
it's been going down below zero at night for the last week or so, but the days have been relativelly warm and getting up to around ten degrees. not bad, but if there's no heat, you're screwed. so the school has installed two of these:
yes. this is our heater - good thing it's right behind my desk. it warms the room nicely, but take a closer look:
don't know if you can actually see it or not, (click on the picture and it should open in a bigger size) but there is an actual flame there. the "red hot" look is actually because there is a fire. it's like a portable fireplace...that runs on... wait, get this... GAS. so it's nice the room is toasty, but the fumes hit you when you come in... which isn't so nice.another discovery that arrived around the same time as the heater/tea kettle, was a new kind of tea. at first i thought that it was there because they were boiling water on top of the heater -notice the kettle on top of the first picture? i saw the vice-principle pour the water out onto the top of the box today. i'm not sure why, it just evaporated in seconds, but it was really strange... will i ever understand anything in this country?
but the tea is just because it's that "time of year" - the cold and flu season. which, i have already been a party to for the last month, but now apparently is the season.
it's called citron tea. when i was first told what it was, i was like "oh, you mean lemon?" i was told "no, citron."
"oh, well, citron is french for lemon, so you must be mistaken." but she wasn't. check out the wikipedia article on citron.
it's like lemon tea with honey, but it's sweet rather than sour like lemon. so it's this big jar of sliced up citron and honey - you scoop it out with a spoon and add hot water... and it's delicious! i even bought some for home.
this is what it looks like in your cup. the "bits" are usually in the bottom of the cup, but i held them up for you to see... i'm still not sure if you're supposed to eat it or not, i've just been throwing out the chunks left at the end. anyway, it's really yummy and if you can find it where you live, try it. it's supposed to help ward off colds, though i think that's the same as the vitamin C myth - if you have enough of it, you won't get sick... what a load... colds and flus come from germs not from not getting enough vitamin C.anyway, i'm off to have a cuppa...
3 comments:
Had to weigh in on the weather comment...cause I pathetically talk about it ALL THE TIMe. all I can say is it's CANADA COLD!! here. And my jean jacket is not cutting it! better buy a new coat...as soon as I can walk again ;)
I love that tea, had some today myself!! I too am cold. Chilled to the bone.
omg i want one of those big heaters! it looks like some futuristic-star-wars contraption, actually. it doesn't go below freezing here, even at night, but i'm always cold anyways from the dampness... gonna keep an eye out for citron...
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